SGA Allies Arc 2 The Price of Treachery
by Garrowan
Summary: Macara is on the fleeing Wraith Hive with the 401 crew. MacGregor is supervising the search, and planning the Assault. Meanwhile, the very real threat of treachery rings clear...with PuddlejumperOz contributions in bold...
1. Chapter 1

Macara woke up, groggily, in a Wraith holding cell. He wasn't in a cocoon yet, which was good. That meant there was a chance to get out.  
The others were still knocked out, but were beginning to stir.  
Macara felt for his side arm; gone, of course; he really hadn't expected it to be there. He then reached into his boot.  
The Fairburn-Sykes was still there.  
Hailey was beginning to sit up when Macara pulled the knife out.  
"..They...didn't search you?"  
"Apparently not. Or else, the knife isn't something they thought they had to worry about." the major replied. "Wake the others if you can. I'm getting us out of here."  
Hailey shook her head. "How, exactly?"  
"Well, I read a mission report where Ronon threw knives at that control panel," Macara pointed with his own. "I'm not any good at that tactic, but I have another."  
"Feel like telling me?"  
"Not really. You won't like it. It involves waiting."  
"Not like we have much else to do." Hailey replied, raising her eyes.  
Macara grinned. "Right, this is the plan..."

It was only thirty five minutes before the Wraith came. A major entered the cell, followed by two Drones. The Major had a stun pistol, the drones the rifle version. Neither Drone paid much attention, in absolutely no doubt as to who was inferior.  
Macara stood, facing him. The Wraith sneered and reached for Hailey instead.  
Macara's arm moved like lightning, burying the commando knife in the Wraith's throat. The aliens' arms involuntarily went to the wound, and Macara grabbed the stunner in mid fall. He put the first Drone down too, before the second wraith stunned him. The major dropped to the floor, but not before the pistol fell to the ground.  
At Fujiwara's feet. The EWO grabbed it and brought the second drone down with a 'thud'  
The wraith officer lay choking, glaring. Fujiwara stunned him and then slit the throat back to the bone. He repeated this twice more, ensuring the Wraith weren't getting up.  
"Grab Macara and let's go." Hailey said, picking up a stun rifle.  
The little group moved away, dragging the unconscious major with them.

* * *

"We can't get a trace on where they gone," Trang said unhappily. "They just vanished."  
The major was sitting in the conference room with McGregor, Carter, McKay and Lorne.  
"Hell!" McGregor roared. "I will not leave them to the enemy,"  
"It's worse," McKay said. "They've got the 410."  
"Technology can be replaced..." McGregor said before the realisation hit him..."Shit. Beaming tech. The 401's have beaming tech."  
"Exactly. One more reason why the military shouldn't get everything they want," McKay crooned, earning him a few glares in return. "The Wraith now have access to our technology. We are, people, in trouble."  
"Call SGC. Ask them for a ship. Any ship. We need help. This has now become more than a rescue of personnel. We cannot allow the Wraith to utilise this technology." McGregor said. "Get the _Fraiser_ ready to go, ASAP. We need to start hunting."  
"But where?" Carter asked.  
"Anywhere we have made Wraith contact since the Asurans went under."  
"That's a lot of worlds, sir. " Lorne said carefully. "It'll take time."  
"Then the sooner we begin, the better." McGregor snarled.

* * *

"Oh, no..." Hailey said. The 401 was crawling with Wraith scientists. They were examining the whole ship.  
The guns and missiles had been removed, and the rear hatch had been removed too.  
"What do they want it for?" Simpson asked.  
"...the...beaming tech..." Macara said, starting to come round again.  
"We need to get out of here. And we can't let them have it." Hailey said, sounding determined.  
"Well, we have the stun grenades and some stunners..." Fujiwara said. "Let's take them."  
Macara nodded. He was inclined to agree.  
"This is about more than E&E now. We have to destroy that 401, or get it out of here."  
Hailey shook her head. "We're flight crew major, not special forces."  
"Neither am I. But I have a plan."  
"Oh, you're just full of them today, aren't you..." Simpson muttered.

* * *

The Wraith drone looked up from the vehicle and saw the human woman, almost one hundred metres away, waving. With a snarl, it gestured to its comrades and three quarters of the Wraith grabbed their weapons and made chase as the woman disappeared down a corridor, leaving the scientists alone with the human vehicle.  
Scant second s passed before dark shapes materialised from the mist of the Dart bay, firing stunners as they came. The first two scientists dropped. A third was able to turn and strike one of the dark shapes in the midriff, causing a grunt of pain and a crack of bones. That Wraith was dropped moments later.  
A final scientist ran to a console and managed to trigger the alarm before Macara stunned him.  
"In the 401, move," he called, helping the injured Fujiwara inside.  
Hailey was already starting pre-flight checks, when Macara bellowed from the rear.  
"Forget that, just move us!"  
Cursing under her breath, Hailey launched the 401 into the air and then sped for the opening of the Dart bay.  
"Let's hope were on a planet, cause we have no pressure back here," Macara called.  
Hailey swore again, and burst out through the hangar bay doors.  
Below them, trees and mountains spread out to the horizon. They were on a planet. Heavily forested by all views. There was a large mountain range a dozen miles away. Macara recongised them almost at once.  
"We're on the world where we found the Wraith base. Look, there it is, at the side of the Hive!" he shouted over the roar of the engines. "There is a gate over that way. Fly low and fast. We might just make it!"  
Hailey just nodded, gripping the controls fiercely.  
The first energy blob flew by, and the unmistakable sound of Darts could be heard.  
"That was fast!" Simpson shouted for the co-pilot's chair.  
"Well, we were in their hangar bay, after all. What would you expect?" Macara muttered, ever the sarcastic one.  
Hailey ignored them both, went low, only a few hundred feet off the deck. She jinked and moved, but the Darts were close on her.  
"There it is!" Simpson shouted. There was a clearing about twenty miles away, and with the HUD displays they could just identify the gate.  
"Awesome," Fujiwara croaked through his pain.  
The Dart pilots had other ideas. They fired quickly and desperately, and one got lucky.  
One engine on the 401 was hit, then the opposite wing.  
"Hold on!" Hailey screamed, as the 401 started falling. She powered down and hit the VTOL, but the Tornado still plummeted to the dark forest canopy, smoke pouring from its back...

* * *

**The Atlantis control room was abuzz with activity. Messages were relayed back and forth as more troops were assembled for what was deemed to be a large ground assault. Warwick Spencer had just heard his new boss, Macara and Captain Hailey, along with her crew and the 401 were MIA. He had only known Macara a couple of days, but he somehow knew the canny Scot, was alive.**

**Chuck threw down his headset and bellowed out to Petty Officer Miki Yamato, chief of security, and temporarily in charge of Atlantis.**  
**"Miki, a message from General O'Neill, the Iwo Jima and Britannia are 4 hours away. They have another 150 troops between them, 8 more 401's and 22 LRPV's. He wants to know, where should they rendezvous? Here or in theatre?"**

**"Get a message to either the Admiral, Captain Stewart, or Colonel Carter, ask them, I can't make that decision Chuck." She replied.**

**"Will do"**

* * *

**Will MacGregor paced up and down his spacious cabin, Sam, Sheppard and Lorne, still in their flight suits, sat nervously in chairs along a side bulkhead. John was nursing a burn to his left forearm, his 302 returning almost crippled, on the verge of venting, he only managed to get out of the cockpit as the crew smothered the craft in foam. **

**"How in the hell did this happen?" He asked all three."Never mind, don't answer, we were set up, and outnumbered. But I want to know how they knew we were here in two brand spanking new ships, not to mention the 401's?" **

**Sam looked up at her uncle, he looked stressed and pale, a large gash across his midriff showed were he himself had a hand to hand with a Wraith boarding party. Blood seeped through his bandage around his waist, he had refused to stay in med lab, said there was worse off than him, needing the bed. **

**"Sir, no one on Atlantis knew that Fraiser was coming, apart from myself, Major Macara and Captain Hailey, it was a closely guarded secret. I think we might need to look to Earth." **

**Sheppard glance over at his friend, sipping a glass of water, he put it down and pushed his free hand through his hair. "Sam, say what...Earth, how so?" **

**Evan leaned forward and stood, he straightened his back, you could almost hear his bones crack.  
"I think what Sam is saying, we might have a Wraith worshipper or two back home. It's a possibility. We have had a few personal who had been captured and rescued, who might have been in Wraith hands for more than a day. We never figured at the time, why they simply weren't fed upon, just kept prisoner." **

**The Admiral wheeled about on his last pacing.  
"Let me guess, they were repatriated back to Earth? How many are we talking?" **

**"As many as ten I think sir." Evan replied. **

**"Christ...a possible ten worshippers back home, god knows where they might have been. Right we'll follow it up. In the meantime, get Stewart over here asap, we have repairs to make, and a missing crew to find." **

**There was a loud buzz on the Admiral's coms unit, Will whirled around and almost punched the receive button, Sam didn't know her uncle all that well, but from what she did know of him, he was a gentle man, this naval officer seemed far from that, he was angry, and John and Lorne sensed it as well. **

**"Yes!" He bellowed into the wall speaker. **

**"_Admiral, this is Valenski_." The Polish major at least was still alive, the last Will remembers was seeing her surrounded by three large Wraith drones near the hangar bay. **

**"Yes Susanna, what is it?" **

**"_Sir, I'm here with Captain Connolly, she is unconscious but alive. Gustav is dead, I'm afraid, sir and Lt. Cmdr Johansen has the bridge. Sir we received 2 sub space transmissions. The first from Atlantis, teling us the Iwo Jima and Brittania were on their way here._" **

**MacGregor's eyes became bright at some good news. "And the second, Major?" **

**_"From Colonel Davis aboard the Iwo Jima. Diverted to Lucien hostilities, priority. Will rejoin with Pegasus fleet as soon as possible._****" **

**"Damn!" He swore. "Very well then Major, have Captain Stewart join us the moment he arrives." **

**_"Sir he's here now, shall I send him along?"_**

**"Yes, Major. Get a message to O'Neill, appraise him of the situation, let him know we need those ships, sooner rather than later." **

**"Already done sir." **

**Moments later, the RN Captain entered the Admirals room, he looked as bad as the others. He was injured and his left arm in a sling, he stood momentarily before Will indicated for him to find a seat. Sitting heavily, he sighed deeply. **

**"Well Admiral, what's our next move?" He asked blithely. **

**"We find that bloody 401." **

**All present stood, and moved closer to him. "We're with you sir." John said for all of them. **

**"How do we find it?" Evan asked. **

**"It has to be a major wraith base nearby, that'll narrow it down." Sam said. **

**"Right, get in touch with Atlantis, ten minutes ago." MacGregor demanded.**

**

* * *

**

Macara sat up sharply. Right in front of his face was the stripped branch of a tree. "What the hel...?" the major stopped, noticing the fact the 401 had very little intact hull left.  
In fact, it was a miracle any of them survived. There were several thigh-width branches puncturing the ships sides.  
Fujiwara was coming-to, shaking his head as if to clear it out. "That...wasn't pleasant."  
Macara smiled sheepishly. He went to the cockpit.  
Hailey and Simpson were both still strapped in. There was a bloody gash on Simpson's forehead, from where he had impacted with the dashboard. Hailey didn't appear to have any injuries.  
"Jen, can you hear me?" Macara gently tapped her shoulder, making sure he didn't move her neck in anyway.  
A few gentle nudges brought Hailey round.  
"Nice landing, captain." Macara laughed. "How do you feel? Any pain?"  
Hailey seemed to examine herself. "No, I think I'm okay. Neck's moving fine, limbs all attached. I'm good."  
"Right. I want you to work on the self destruct. I'm going to get Simpson out of there."  
"Yes, sir." Hailey replied, carefully unstrapping herself and slipping from the seat.  
Whilst Hailey got to work, Macara checked Simpson. As well as the head-trauma, he had a major break in his left thigh, where the hull had bent in under impact. Macara lifted Simpson to the outside of the 401; the flight-lieutenant didn't stir once.  
"We're all ready to go, major. What's the plan?" Hailey asked.  
"We're about ten miles from the gate, maybe eleven. I reckon we can get to it in about two hours." Macara said evenly.  
"We're not Marines. You expect us to march that quickly, through dense forest. Not to mention Our injuries."  
"Fujiwara's broken ribs are the only reason I'm not expecting a seven minute mile. This way we are covering twelve minute miles. With you supporting him, Fujiwara can make that no problem." the Marine major replied just as evenly.  
"And what about Simpson? Do you plan to just leave him behind? There's no way he can keep up." Hailey bit back, losing her temper.  
"I'll carry him." Macara said simply.  
"The whole way?"  
"The whole way. He's what, ten stone max. I'll be fine." Macara unceremoniously placed Simpson in a military fire-man's lift.  
Hailey shook her head, but helped Fujiwara up. The small group headed into the forest as quickly as their injured bodies could take them.

**

* * *

**

"Admiral, the _Daedalus_ has arrived back at Atlantis." Johansen reported. "Colonel Caldwell would like to know your intentions."  
McGregor sighed, and thought for a moment.  
"Have Caldwell take _Fraiser_'s place in the search. We're doing no good here, with the amount of casualties we are treating, or the repairs we have to effect. Set a course for Atlantis, and we'll take up a holding pattern in orbit."  
"Aye, sir." Johansen agreed.  
"What forces do we have to tackle a Wraith base. Now the 340 fleet has been diverted?" McGregor asked his Army liaison, a WO just bellow Wacca Spencer in rank.  
"We have Thirty US marines on Atlantis, of whom maybe twenty are battle-fitness. There are the fifty or so Atlantis security under Yamato, but we can't strip too many of them from the base under current circumstances. We have one of our own 4RAR gate teams available, and Trang's IOA Spec Ops. The regular Army and the RAN team you requested were returning aboard Iwo Jima and Britannia. We have no transports at this time, as the LRRVs were also en route. We could maybe pull together a few shore parties from Navy and Airforce crew, but none of them are trained infantry." the WO replied.  
"Not much of an army. And the British?"  
"Fifty Marines in F Coy, then whatever the _Lorcan_ had aboard, minus casualties. And they have a machine-gun support section of Paras, too."  
MacGregor sighed. "It's better than nothing. The Marines aren't too bad in a scrape. Get Teyla to dial Earth, ask if they can send at least a team or two of CDTs. Their demo skills may come in handy."  
"Aye, sir."

* * *

Only about six minutes from the 401, they could hear Wraith Darts. At least three of them.  
The sound of Wraith culling beams, then of Drones could easily be heard.  
They were salvaging the 401.  
"Jen, why hasn't that ship blown yet?"  
"I don't know, sir. It should have."  
Macara swore, then went to put Simpson down.  
"Sir, we need to keep going. The self destruct will go off. Anyway, what could you do if you went back? You have a knife and that's it." Fujiwara croaked. The major didn't reply at first.  
They could hear the Darts landing; that was unusual.  
"We keep going, we get the cavalry and we come back and blow that 401." Macara decided. The small group trudged on, getting slowly closer to the gate.

"Nothing here, sir. Where next?" Trang's senior operator asked.  
"Head back to Px5-556, with the new Wraith base. We may find something there."  
"Yes, sir."  
Trang said dejectedly. Damn, Nate, where are you? he thought to himself.

* * *

"Sir, message relayed from Atlantis. Firstly, the IOA will not allow the SGC to deploy any more forces to the area to 'cover up' our mistake. Secondly, general O'neill is at Cheyenne mountain. He would like a personal debrief." Johansen read from the transcript.  
"Reply that we are on our way already. We'll be there in a little over an hour now."  
"Of course, sir."  
McGregor punched the desk, losing his normal cool once again. Sam was worried for her uncle. He felt personal responsibility for this; what could he have done? They were betrayed somewhere along the line, and Will couldn't be held responsible.  
Sam silently urged the _Fraiser_'s engines to work as best they could.

* * *

Macara's party we having difficulty. They had been travelling for almost an hour, but much slower than expected. Simpson was semi-conscious now, and in complete agony. Every bump or jolt from Macara's shoulders caused searing pain through his leg and head. Fujiwara was having difficulty breathing, indicating one of his ribs had punctured his lung.  
About twenty minutes ago, they had heard a single Dart fly away from the crash site, heading away from them. Only moments later, the 401 exploded and since then, no other Darts could be heard.  
"At least they aren't following us," Hailey muttered.  
"They are." Macara stated flatly. "Half an hour ago, right before the Dart flew off, I saw two drones way, way back. They hadn't noticed us. They are searching, but in a sweep. Eventually, they will catch up."  
Hailey looked at him fearfully. "We can't make it like this!"  
"I know." Macara said, looking deep into her eyes. "We can't escape. I have an idea though. One person, on their own, could make it from here to the gate in about forty-five minutes. You go, Jen, get to the gate and bring back a rescue team. I'll stay with these two, we'll hide out somewhere and keep our beacons off for at least two hours, so the Wraith can find us. After that, we turn them on so you can find us again." Macara said.  
"We can't do that," Jen said. "What if something happens to you..."  
"That doesn't matter right now, captain! That Dart that flew away, you think it just went off to report? I think they got what they were after. We need to come back here and blow that base, or we will have Wraith hives with the ability to beam. And who knows what use they can make of that?"  
Hailey nodded slowly. "Fine. but you should go, sir. You are faster, fitter and stronger than me. You'll get there faster."  
"I won't leave my men behi..." Macara began.  
"Their my men, sir. You get us help."  
Macara thought to argue again; he was not used to cutting and running. But Hailey made a good point.  
"Fine. If we are making an attack, we'll need ships in orbit. Leave it two and a half hours before hitting the beacon. Here's the last of my first aid kit. And here, take this..." Macara held out his Commando knife.  
"Thanks," Hailey said with honesty. A Royal Marine didn't easily give up his dagger.  
Without another word, Macara dove into the trees, full, speed. Hailey and Fujiwara moved Simpson into the deep bowels of a mighty pine, then Hailey began gathering ferns to cover over them.

* * *

"Okay, take us out of Hyperspace. Go to stealth as soon as possible." Trang ordered.  
"Yes, sir."  
The ship came out of hyperspace, and to a terrifying sight.  
"My God," Trang breathed.  
Three Hive ships sat in orbit of the planet, with a dozen supporting cruisers.  
"Sir, they've detected us."  
"Go to stealth," Trang ordered again.  
"We have sir, but they pinged us before we were fully cloaked. Moving to intercept. Sir, with that much firepower, they won't miss for long,"  
"Damn it! Right, prepare evasive maneuvers, and get us out of here." Trang snarled.  
"Sir, we have Major Macara's IDC on the planet." the comms operator shouted suddenly.  
"Can we beam from here?" Trang jump to his feet and ran to the console.  
"No, sir. We're too far."  
Trang balled his hands into fists. "Damn. Okay, get us out of here. at least we know where they are now."


	2. Chapter 2

"Sir, we have a message from Trang. He's found them!" Chuck called to MacGregor, who stood in the control room of Atlantis.  
"Good! Has he got them?"  
"No, sir. He reports numerous Wraith ships. He requests the support of any two other ships and wishes to return. The Major has kept station half way between here and there." Chuck replied.  
"Very good. Sam, Atlantis is all yours. Chuck, tell Stewart and Caldwell to go and meet _Nightcrawler_. I will be following shortly, after making my report."  
"Right away, sir!"  
Carter looked at her uncle. "What do you need?"  
"Well, we rescue first, then we think about an assault, so I don't need anything from here..."  
"Incoming wormhole!" the cry went up.  
"Damn it! I need to contact Earth and ask for help! This better be quick!"  
"It's Major Macara's IDC, sir."  
"Open the shield!" MacGregor barked.

* * *

A thoroughly tired and sweaty Macara stood with MacGregor, Carter and McKay as they dialed Earth and made their report.  
"_Will, don't fret. There was nothing you could have done about it. It's a big galaxy..._"  
"Actually, Pegasus is a dwarf galaxy, considerably smaller than the Milk..." McKay began.  
"_Is that the dulcet tones of Doctor Rodney McKay I hear?_" O'neill asked. "_Don't let him near the comms again, please? Now, I hear you Will. We have a leak here, not your fault. But the IOA will not authorise funds for this mission, and the SGC can't spare any personnel without IOA help. We can't give you any men._"  
"But Jack, how can I assault the Wraith base with what I have? Do you expect me to send fifty Marines to die...?"  
"_Your assistance should be there about, now..._" Jack said dramatically.  
Nothing happened, and everyone stared at each other.  
"Fine. I will take as many jumpers as I can, and my own Company, and we'll affect a rescue and an assault." Macara spat angrily.  
"_No, just wait... _" O'neill sighed.  
"Sir, we have just received a communiqué," Chuck stated. "We have confirmation on the AAS _Cuchulainn_ has just passed the system and is continuing out to _Nightcrawler's_ position."  
"_About time they showed up. They were starting to make me sound…silly!"_ O'neill's disembodied voice said lightly. "_There was something you were all forgetting, there is once operation the IOA doesn't have full control over; the UKGTF._"  
"But sir, the _Cuchulainn_ must have left over a fortnight ago. They can possibly have the forces needed aboard..." Macara began.  
"_No, they don't. In fact, the cheeky devils at UKGTF didn't inform SGC they were sending the Cuchulainn out in the first place. She has her basic crew and carrier complement, with about half her vehicle capacity aboard, but no foot troops._"  
"Then how..." Sheppard began.  
"_Colonel, what are we talking through?_" Jack waited for the realisation to hit.  
"The gate...?" Sheppard struggled.  
"_Exactly. There are two hundred Royal Marines waiting in the Midway gateroom. They will come through to you and then from there gate to P5X-556. They will rescue the survivors, and then await the arrival of the fleet._"  
"I should have known you wouldn't let us down, Jack. I'm going to board _Frasier_ and head out. Even with her advanced engines, it will take some time to meet the others."  
"_Very good, admiral. Oh, you may be interested to know that two CDT teams are heading over with the RMs. Thought you'd like to know. SGC out._" Jack said, humming happily.  
MacGregor had a fierce look in his eye.  
"Major, prepare your company. They will go through with the newly arriving troops. The plan, then people, you will go through the gate, secure the injured and await the arrival of our ships. They will them beam you directly within range of the Wraith base and provide air cover with 401s, whilst the ships and 302's will engage the Wraith fleet and stop any reinforcements arriving. Get that beaming tech, and get our people back!" MacGregor said. He tapped his radio twice, then disappeared aboard the _Frasier_.  
Macara ran from the room to gather his men. Sheppard and Ronon looked at each other.  
"We're not missing this." Ronon said, following the major. Sheppard saluted Sam, then also went.

Fifty minutes passed as the troops arrived. Just fewer than two hundred and fifty Marines, twenty security staff including Valenski and Sheppard, stood ready to go through the gate.  
"We have confirmation that the fleet will arrive over P5X-556 in thirty-five minutes." Chuck relayed.  
"Very good. Dial the gate!" Sheppard called.  
The shield went up to keep the 'kawoosh' from killing the personnel within range. With a hum and then a thud, the shield disappeared.  
"Move it!" Macara called, plunging into the event horizon first. Sheppard and Ronon followed, with the RMC and CDTs close behind.

**

* * *

**

**Three hours later, the **_**Fraiser**_** and **_**Lorcan**_** were in orbit behind the Wraith planet's minor moon, having rendezvoused with the **_**Nightcrawler**_** and **_**Daedalus.**_** Will conducted a tactical conference with Caldwell, Stewart, Trang and Johansen. ****Captain Connolly was still in medlab, being looked after. She would recover, but probably not before the attack.**

******"Damn!" The Admiral cursed. As he took the message from the medical orderly. And his wife wasn't overly helpful either, being transferred to **_**Fraiser**_** from Atlantis and taking over from Colonel Ngyuen in medlab. Tia Ngyuen was hard enough to deal with, getting personnel released from sickbay, but Anne was ten times worse. She had grounded 22 from the **_**Fraiser**_** and 18 from **_**Lorcan**_**, people, especially the ground troops he sorely needed. **

_**"God, why do women have to be so picky over a few scratches."**_** He mused.****  
**

**Between the four ships though a sizeable air assault could be managed. The **_**Daedalus**_** now had 4 C401's courtesy of **_**Britannia**_**, whom she met en route. So they now had eleven 401's serviceable and thirty-eight 302's, not a lot, but maybe enough if Sam came through with the promised Puddlejumpers. The **_**Fraiser**_** herself will be emptied of all fighters and Tornado's and those split between the other three, she would take on the heavy attack duties before the smaller craft made their run. Only time would tell now. **

**Will was about to dismiss evryone when a thought occured to him.  
"By the way people, where's the bloody Cuchulainn?"**

"We intercepted a message from her on our way in Admiral, Commander Fisher said he had some business to attend to on MXY447." Stephen Caldwell replied.

"447? That's deep in the heart of Wraith territory isn't it?"

"Yes Sir." Stewart answered "And I think I know what he's doing sir."

"And that would be?"

"Trying to draw some of thier forces away from here, the Cuchulainn, can make it look like a much bigger attack than it is, it's a good ploy I think sir"

"Yes it might be, some other bloody time, but not now. Damned Irish, if he so much as scratches that ship, he'll be an able seaman be his feet touches the deck." Will went to the passageway and grabbed the first rating to pass by.

"Lass, get a message to coms, recall the Cuchulainn, immediatley, or the captain will stand court marshall."

The young girl almost quivered at MacGregors anger and ran to the coms room in seconds, the message was relayed, and Fisher, none too pleased withdrew, leaving some very angry Wraith behind.

* * *

The strike force was assembled and waiting transport. They were almost two hours over due. The Marines were restless, wanting to get into the fight.  
To make things worse, Hailey's beacon hadn't been activated yet.  
"Well, major?" Sheppard asked. "What's the word?"  
Macara looked at Sheppard. "I would know how, exactly, sir?"  
"It's you ship we are waiting on. I figured they would have told you what was going on."  
"Do your superiors tell you everything, sir?" Macara asked in return.  
"Calm, major, I'm just blowing off…steam" Sheppard said in his usual manner.  
Macara kept looking off into the trees. He was getting worried. He fingered the safety on his rifle.  
"Major?"  
"Sir, I would like to take a team and try to pick up captain Hailey and the others."  
"Major, we should hold here until…."  
"Me, three men and Ronon. It's not much."  
Sheppard thought for a moment. If the fleet came, then they could beam them from whatever location on the planet surface. It wouldn't matter if they were split up.  
Or closer to the target.  
"No, major. I have a better idea. How far would you put the Wraith base from here?"  
"A little under twenty miles, sir. What are you thinking?" Macara was interested suddenly.  
"Advance the strike force. Move on the target from here, maybe be able to scope out the area. And with three hundred personnel, we can't miss Hailey if she's still out there."  
Macara grinned. "Permission to ready the men, sir?"  
"Granted."  
Macara gave a genuine smile, before wandering over to a group of NCOs. He muttered to them quietly, and they spread out to find the junior NCOs, who then began spreading the word from section to section.  
Valenski readied the security forces, none of whom looked pleased at the twenty five mile trek.  
Macara spoke to a group of Marines, Lieutenant Hardy at their fore. The men were all older than the average; veterans, no doubt. Hardy was the youngest there. Another man, an older major, nodded ascent then walked back to the main group of men. He wasn't happy at Macara's rank. He had been promoted in the same year as Nathan, but was older and had earned his promotion properly, not by being jumped up for competence. That wasn't meant to happen in the modern military.  
The major and other officers led the Marines into the forest. The section with Macara, lieutenant Hardy and Ronon bounded off quicker than the pace of the rest.

* * *

**An hour later**

"Sir, _Cuchulainn_ should be with us in a little over an hour." The officer called to MacGregor.  
"About bloody time. Have the 401's all been loaded with ground-strike ordinance?"  
"Aye, sir. We have thirteen battle ready Tornadoes. One was unable to be patched up in time. Also, the various squadron leaders would like to inform you we now have 43 302's, including those from _Nightcrawler_, _Daedalus_ and _Cuchulainn_ that are battle ready." The young officer replied.  
"That's not too bad. We know we outclass the Dart, so that will be a godsend. Okay, give orders to the fleet. Beat to quarters, everyone to battle stations." The Admiral said. An alarm went off briefly, and the ship was abuzz with activity.

* * *

Hailey sat in the shelter. The broken rescue-beacon was on the ground – Hailey had activated it a while back, but had noticed only recently it wasn't working.  
She could just here multiple footfalls – they were very quiet, almost silent apart from the odd snapping twig, the sound of metal sliding off something, the movement of fabric.  
She wanted to go out of their shelter and look, but if it was the Wraith, she would give them away.  
Simpson was sleeping again, and Fujiwara was breathing raggedly. She didn't know how much longer he would last with only one working lung.  
A crack brought her head up, listening, she gently covered Fujiwara's mouth; enough to let him breathe, but enough to stifle the sound of his rasping breaths.  
There were figures coming closer, but she could only make out silhouettes.  
Drawing Macara's commando dagger, she braced herself.

* * *

Macara and his unit, at 5m spread, moved slowly through the forest, making barely any sound. They had lost sight of Ronon, but Macara had an idea of his whereabouts, like a feeling of presence nearby.  
About ten minutes behind them, the rest of the force was moving up quickly.  
"Captain!" Macara hissed as he drew near a bit he recognised. "Jen?"  
His section came to a halt. Macara looked for the tree with the fern coverings.  
Some fronds moved. Then Hailey stood up.  
"You took your time," she replied.  
Macara watched the USAF captain step out of the hollow, covered in dirt and fern-fronds, diminutive yet frowning madly.  
The Ronon chuckled, followed by Macara laughing out loud.  
"What? What's so funny?" she demanded, brandishing the dagger.  
"Medic!" Macara called through the laughter.

* * *

McGregor stalked across the bridge. All they were waiting for now was the _Cuchulainn_.  
"Send in the _Nightcrawler_ under stealth, see if Trang can beam the wounded out. Then we will..."  
"Sir, _Cuchulainn_ has arrived." The Rating on the Comms called over.  
"About bloody time. Right, orders to fleet, all ships to move at best speed to high orbit. Target the area of the landed Hive and base, and fire railguns before launching 401's with conventional payloads. The 401s will stay on station to provide air cover for the ground units. _Daedalus_, _Fraiser_, _Lorcan_ and _Nightcrawler_ will engage the Wraith ships whilst the _Cuchulainn_ will take station and provide a base for the 401s to fuel and arm from. She can lend fire support to the fleet if necessary, but her role is to beam troops around, drop armoured units and beam up the wounded. Take the Hives first, ladies and gentlemen, followed by the Cruisers. Good hunting!" McGregor rapped out the commands, even as his own helmsman brought the Frasier round the side of the moon.

* * *

"Okay, stand to! Stand to!" Quincannon was bellowing. "C Coy will be first, followed by G and H Coy! Prepare for immediate action on the other side of beaming!"  
The Marines were dropping their Bergens, taking only what they needed to fight with. They had reached an area only three miles from the combat area, where there were significantly more clearings. The Hive itself could be made out from a ridge-line where the tree-cover thinned right out.  
"Commander Fisher, beam up Hailey and her wounded, please." Macara spoke quickly.  
"No problem, Major. Stand by."  
The other Major, Williamson, was issuing orders too.  
"I want my support platoon to set up those Starstreaks here, here and here," he pointed to a digital map-tablet, three lieutenants overlooking his commands and nodding. "I want fire support from this ridge to help our fly-boys. Para platoon, set up your machineguns on that ridge," Williamson pointed to a parallel ridge, about 40m lower than the one they were behind and about a mile closer to the enemy.

"When we beam, get set up there. I want fields of fire down into the base area. I want my L115A3 snipers set up there, too. Get used to shooting and moving, because to stand still is inviting a culling beam!" Williamson bellowed as he walked the lines.  
Macara watched his men ready themselves.  
"WO Spence, I want your CDT teams to rig explosives inside the base once we have achieved retrieval. I know you are now seconded to the UK forces, but this is your area of expertise. Take your teams and get it done," the major said.  
"Yes, sir," Wacca gave no arguments. He liked the idea of blowing stuff up.  
"Thirty seconds 'til go!" Quincannon shouted.  
The first railgun shots struck the ground, shaking it for miles. The Landed Hive took dozens of hits, its engines crippled in the opening moments.  
Darts left the bays, numerous craft exploding from hits, and raced into orbit to engage the Earth ships.  
"Prepare for beam!" the order came.  
Macara took his safety off, and stood ready.

The Bays of the _Cuchulainn_ were bereft of Marines, so there were a few more armoured units than normal. As soon as the go was given, Warrior IFVs, a trio of Scimitars and even two Challengers were beamed onto the planet below, crew already embarked.

* * *

Macara's lead companies went to cover as soon as they materialised. The first rounds were being fired as the Wraith guards, reeling from the bombardment, came out of the damage building and Hive.  
Macara heard the hum of Asgard beaming tech, and a moment later, British armour lined the area.  
Twelve Warriors, three Scimitars and two Challengers waited for orders. The next group of marines appeared too.  
"H Company, mount up!" Macara called, and watched as almost one hundred Marines entered the Warriors. The Two challengers took point, and the Warriors followed behind.  
The Last Marines and City forces appeared. Machinegun support was screaming in from the ridges, and the troops formed behind the Warriors and Scimitar scouts.  
"We could really do with some LRRVs," Wacca said. Macara was inclined to agree.  
"Macara to _Cuchulainn_, any SNATCH Land Rovers aboard?"  
"Affirmative. How many required?"  
"Three, WMIK mounted preferably" Macara replied.  
"On their way." The operator replied.  
The sounds of full on battle were beginning to become deafening. The Warriors' Rarden cannons pulped wraith drones, no amount of regenerative capability able to help them. The Challenger's cannon's roared every few moments, signalling the death of a Wraith strong point.  
Every now and then, a Marine would go down under a stun blast, and was dragged to the rear. Several Wraith were using the larger blaster cannon seen more and more recently in combat; lethal weapons if the blast was taken full on.  
The RM were spreading out behind the Warriors and other armour. Wacca's CDTs sat in the Land Rovers, following close behind.  
Macara orchestrated the movements of the battle. It was full of confusion, noise, explosions. Macara snapped his head up as a wave of aircraft came roaring to the attack; 401's, bomb bays open.  
This was only just starting.


	3. Chapter 3

****

A youngish Wraith drone commander looked skyward, he had heard their own Darts take off to engage the enemy in orbit, and the earth shattering bombardment the humans were sending the hive's way, for a little while the hive's shield held, but the constant fire drew so much energy, slowly it began to fail. He wondered for just a brief moment how these barbaric primitives could muster so much non energy firepower, to the Wraith this was inconceivable. A keening sound filled his head, so much so he had to hold his hands to his temples, some of his drones actually sagged to their knees in pain, he turned around and to the north east a large craft filled his vision, only seconds before gun turrets beneath the vessel, erupted in a volley that tore his world apart.

**

* * *

**

_**Daedalus**_** sir, and I'll have all the wounded beamed over as well, your wife is already there sir."**_**Fraiser**_** came in with a screaming sound, residue shock waves convulsed together from her entering the atmosphere at speed, some of her attendant 302's had difficulty keeping up with her.**_**Fraiser's**_** gunners to get a bead on the Wraith positions and soon most of them were silenced.**_**Fraiser**_** into a high turn and signalled for the next wave.**

**"Right we have 3 minutes people!" Will shouted just as Sarah Connolly came to the bridge. "Sarah what are you doing here?" He asked.**

**"If you don't mind Admiral, it's my ship and no offence intended, but Carl…" she looked at her XO Johansen, "you just don't have the experience for this" She winced slightly as Will allowed her the commanders chair.**

**"If you would transfer the flag to the "If you would transfer the flag to the Daedalus sir, and I'll have all the wounded beamed over as well, your wife is already there sir."**

**Will was hesitant, but he knew his old friend and knew she was as tough as they come.**

**"Very well Captain." He saluted. "You have the ship, beam me over Scotty" He tried to make light of a perilous situation.**

* * *

**The The Fraiser came in with a screaming sound, residue shock waves convulsed together from her entering the atmosphere at speed, some of her attendant 302's had difficulty keeping up with her.**

**The moment the hive came into range of her 125mm railguns, those and the smaller Asgard turrets opened fire, the immediate area around the Wraith ship became a killing ground.**

**The Wraith had positioned some of their newer portable beam cannons around the hive and a two 302's succumbed. But it did not take long for**

**Hordes of Wraith Drones came pouring out of the now burning hive, attempting to either flee, or set up further defensive positions. Connolly took the**

**"Major Tsang, they're all yours, we'll keep top cover for you, good hunting." Sarah signaled to her Tornado flight commander.**

**The Hong Kong born Royal Marine Pilot could not resist making a gesture. "Righto boys and girls tallyho."**

**Twelve AC401's in two echelons came out of nowhere, loaded with conventional ordinance, bomb doors open, and carpeted the area, GBU's, 500kg HE's. The Wraith were going nowhere fast.**

* * *

**From the tree line two miles away, Macara watches with satisfaction as the aerial bombardment took place, he watches as the last Tornado, smoke trailing from one engine, unloaded it's cargo of destruction. The noise was unbearable, but all of the troops just watched in awe and cheered. It was only saddened by them watching the brave pilot and crew of the last Tornado, lose their battle to save the stricken craft, as it plowed into a nearby mountain peak.**

**A silence rang through the valley. Macara ordered the men forward and turned to Wacca. "Ok mate, you're first in, I want what's left of that hive neutralised, do you have enough plastic?"**

**"No worries major!" Wacca pointed to the back of the two Land Rovers. "Could level this whole valley if you like sir."**

**"That mightn't be a bad idea Wacca, but it'd take too long. No, just the hive will do, how long?"**

**"Give us 25 minutes major, we'll cut for the Western ridge when we're done."**

**"Go. As soon as you're there, we'll have you beamed out."**

**The Warrant officer made a snappy salute and the Marines watched as the eight Aussies drove away in a cloud of dust**.

* * *

**Deep within the smoldering remains of the hive, Warrick and his two teams fanned out and began planting explosives. The primary target though was whatever remained of the science section. Wacca and his no2 Petty Officer Liam Harper checked the schematics once more and deduced it was three levels down, and area not overly effected it would seem, by the bombardment.**

**Pairs of divers spread out about the vast ruined ship, planting their plastics in the most vulnerable places. More than once, live Wraith were encountered by all the teams, but eventually their luck had to run out.**

**Wacca and Liam had found the section they were looking for, as well as three still living Wraith. They left the space, with the Wraith tied to a console, and a timer attached to 10kg's of C4, placed in and around the Wraith and the console. The stolen beaming tech was there, whether it had been transmitted was unknown, but Harper ran a diagnostic, and it came up empty as far as outgoing transmissions.**

**The two senior sailors were making their way above to rejoin their comrades, when automatic fire was heard directly above them**

**They found themselves in the middle of a vicious firefight, two CDT****'****s were already down, hit by what appeared to be their own weapon fire, until Wacca caught sight of some Drones using Tau'ri weapons, he paid no mind to it for the moment, but he did wonder ever so briefly where they got them from. But survival was foremost in his mind now.**

**

* * *

**

The last four team members were giving a good account of themselves, but Wacca and Liam could see they had boxed themselves into small passageway vestibule, looking to the right several Drones and a commander were closing in and making escape almost impossible, and only six minutes before the timers would detonate their deadly packages. With one mind, out of sight of the oncoming Wraith, Wacca and his offsider lobbed grenades down the passageway and with two successive explosions, cleared a path. His men made no delay in getting up and moving, hoisting their wounded comrades as they left and made good time two the parked Rovers above.

But Leading Seaman Harrison and Petty Officer Wilson were both gravely wounded, almost too much so to move. Tug spoke to his boss.

**"****Wacca, I swear if you move me I****'****ll break into peices, leave me and Harrison with the second Rover, we****'****ll cover for you.****"**

Warwick knew what his old mate was thinking and seeing both their wounds, smiled and just nodded, he was aware they would not make it. So propping the two sailors into the front of the second vehicle, and placing a detonator on the remaining charges in the back tray, Wacca handed Harrison the remote, he grinned through bloodied teeth and Tug gunned the engine and drove the Rover into the centre of the hive hull.

A dwindled dive group sped away for their rendezvous, but not before encountering more resistance, Wraith popped from behind cover and sprayed their vehicle with automatic rounds, Reilly and Moore on the back went down, whilst Liam returned fire with the Mag .50, and the little Rover burst from cover and finally made the pick-up point

In that moment, the Hive erupted in an enormous explosion, and for a moment the valley went quiet. Macara watched as he saw one lone Range Rover beam out, and then looked again as scores of Wraith emerged from hidden revetments, all but a few, brandishing Tauri weapons.

* * *

Macara stood in the third SNATCH, and directed another platoon forward, supported by one of the Task Forces Warriors. Every few moments, he would drop the radio horn and bring his rifle up, dropping a Wraith drone or three.  
The Wraith Hive in the near distance was burning, and Wacca was currently inside, setting it up to blow spectacularly.  
The Wraith base itself wasn't looking much better. The Wraith had fallen back, and the RM and City Security had pushed right up to the outside of the building.  
An almighty *whumph* hit the Earth forces as explosive shock wave buffeted them, a moment before they heard the explosion of the Hive. Several Marines had to brace themselves.  
Macara could just make out a single SNATCH Land Rover at the beam-out point. Only one? Wacca had done his job, but at a cost, it seemed. In a heartbeat it was gone, beamed back aboard the _Cuchulainn_.  
6 Platoon, B Coy was right at the base. A last Charlie II round *thwacked* into the side, causing internal explosions, before the first Marines dashed inside. Macara's SNATCH pulled up and he dismounted, joining them.  
"Major Williams, form a defensive corridor from here to the beam-out point. Warriors guarding this door. We have Wraith with P-90's, and I don't want them close enough to use them effectively!" the Scottish major order.  
"Yes sir." the reply came back quickly.  
Macara nodded, then dived in to the base.

* * *

The fight in orbit was going slowly against the Earth forces. They had destroyed one Hive, and several cruisers, but the sheer volume of Darts and the firepower of the remaining hives was stopping them from bringign their mobility and power to bear.  
The _Nightcrawler_ was ablaze on several decks. Trang had personally taken out two cruisers, despite his Asgard turret going down in the opening moments of the engagement.  
_Nightcrawler_ came to a halt as her engines flickered and died.  
"Can we stealth?" Trang called to his officers.  
"No, sir!"  
"Divert power to shields!"  
"We can't sir. They're down!" the lieutenant managed to garble through the vibrations and the shock of multiple impacts.

The _Nightcrawler_ was suddenly set upon by a veritable swarm of Darts, who found a target with no shields very tempting. _Dal_ _Raida_ squadron came in to assist the overtaxed railguns, and Digger Squadron, on their way back to reload ordnance, swept by with their own turrets, but it wasn't enough. _Nightcrawler_ was losing pressure fast, decks were open to space and those with atmosphere were ablaze.

"Beam the crew out now!" Trang ordered. "Inform the _Cuchulainn_ we are going to ground, so they can beam us up from the planet. I won't risk them lowering their shields for us."  
"Aye, sir."  
Major Trang checked his sidearm, then took the spare m4 from the Spec Ops standing on the bridge.  
Group by group, the crew were escaping the stricken ship.  
"Is that everyone?" Trang asked after a moment. The Spec Op nodded. "Good." Trang entered the command to beam him out.  
The ship took a broadside from a nearby Cruiser. Flames sheeted through the corridors as she broke up.  
The bridge belched flame that swept round Trang a milisecond before the beaming tech transported him off ship.

_Nightcrawler_'s explosion took the cruiser with her, but it now left the Earth ships in a terrible position.  
They had three combat ships and the AAS against a still sizeable Wraith fleet. They were in trouble.

* * *

Macara nodded as he listened to the Comm. He turned to Lieutenant Hardy. "Wacca and his men took casualties, but they got the beaming tech from the Hive back. We just need to get whatever they have here and leave."  
"That's good news," Hardy began.  
"We just lost _Nightcrawler_. Three quarters of the crew made it out, and have been beamed aboard the Cuchulainn. But Trang's been badly injured."  
Hardy swore.  
"I know. Take it out on the Wraith, lieutenant." Macara said softly.  
"Yes, sir."  
The platoon moved quickly through the corridors, securing rooms, clearing others. Every so often the sound of L85's could be heard, signaling the death of another Wraith.  
They made their way into a larger room that looked just like the Wraith lab on the Hive. Human tech lay everywhere.  
"Have they been collecting this stuff?" Quincannon breathed.  
Macara just cursed.  
"Grab any Asgard stuff here. The rest goes up with the base. Sergeant Leith," Macara spoke to one Marine, slightly differently attired. the three others with him nodded too. "Take your fireteam and rig the place. As soon as you have, signal for an automatic beam to the Cuchulainn. I'd rather not explain to Admiral McGregor why we didn't mention SBS to him. His CDT's might get jealous." Macara grinned.  
"Yes, sir." the Leith nodded, running off set some charges.  
"Okay, boys. Grab the stuff and pull back!"

* * *

The withdrawal was a feat of tactical genius, much of it Sheppard's work. Another wave of Darts came in, but the AA set up brought them down quickly, before they could do much damage. As soon as the surviving Darts pulled back to rejoin the fight in orbit, the Marines made a dash for the ridge.  
Any body that they could pick up had a transmitter placed inside their webbing, and one by one the dead were beamed off-world.  
The Marines and City forces not in transports went first. Ronon stood high, unafraid, emptying entire power-clips into the Wraith charging the ridge. His kill count was possibly the highest of the day, rivaled only by Marine Beckett with his L115A3.  
The machine guns platoons went next, followed by the surviving Scimitar and Challengers.  
Only The lads with Warriors remained, the IFVs reaping a fearfully tally. Two of the vehicles had been lost; one destroyed, the other crippled. The latter was quickly beamed out, the other left to burn and explode.  
Macara received the signal. Leith had beamed out. A moment later, the base exploded outward, forming a very similar, burning, shape to the larger Hive.  
"That's it _Cuchulainn_. Get us out of here!" Macara ordered. One by one the Warriors and men inside were beamed off world, each firing right up until they were beamed away.  
Macara and his SNATCH, with SHeppard and Ronon aboard, were last to go.

The battlefield was covered in Wraith bodies, discarded armour and broken weapons. Smoke covered everything, and the remaining Wraith began to police the bodies, fearfully watching the sky for any more of the dreaded 401s

* * *

_Lorcan_ was burning fiercely, and had lost power in one of her sublights.  
Stewart watched the Hive draw nearer. "Divert power to APBW" he ordered.  
"Sir, the coils will burn out again if we do," Grant pointed out.  
"We're leaving anyway. But I want that bastard before we go." The captain growled. He was holding a bandage to a gash on his head, and two of his ribs were broken from being flung from his chair earlier on.  
"Power diverted, sir."  
Stewart smiled. "Fire."

The _Lorcan_'s turrets fired, multiple high-powered blasts of plasma. they Wraith Hive took the first shots with little ill-effect, but then the internal explosions began, and the following beams sliced through its organic hull like paper.  
It took moments to happen, but felt much longer. The Hive seemed to shrink, visibly, before expanding outward in a ball of flame and debris.

"Get our single-ships aboard and prepare to leave." Stewart grimaced.

"Single the fleet, begin to leave!" MacGregor ordered Caldwell. "Have the Frasier cover _Lorcan_'s withdrawal, and bring the _Daedalus_ round to cover the Cuchulainn. Bring the fighter home."  
"Of course, sir." Caldwell replied. He wasn't used to taking orders on his own ship, but MacGregor was talented and knew what he was doing.  
The _Daedalus_, already battle weary, moved in to cover the AAS

_Lorcan_ went to hyperspace, trailing wreckage and jets of super-hot flame. She had no sublights, so would have to drop out and make basic repairs as soon as possible. _Fraiser_ left with the stricken British ship, crippling another cruiser before the powerful, tiny ship dove into a hypersapce window.  
The last fighters made combat landings on Cuchulainn, regardless of parent ship. Cuchulainn closed her launch bays and made her own window. _Daedalus_ stayed to destroy dozens more Darts before MacGregor was finally willing to leave.

* * *

The space above PX5-556 was littered with debris and bodies, most of them Wraith. They wouldn't know until they rallied at Atlantis, but the butcher will was a high one. 27 Royal Marines wouldn't be going home. City security had gotten off relatively lightly, unlike the fleet, who had lost 41 Ratings and officers between them, including the pilots of the various single-craft who had died.  
The loss of hardware was expensive too. 7 302's and 4 of the 401's who had once again proven their tactical value. One Warrior, Scimitar and SNATCH remained on the planet, with nearly twenty L85's, and a Starstreak missile system.  
Finally, there was the loss of Wacca's CDT team, possibly the hardest loss to replace.  
This had all come from a traitor at home; a Wraith worshipper who would have those deaths on their heads.  
And there was not a place in two Galaxies they could hide now MacGregor was after them.

* * *

**The ships returned to Atlantis and all those who could be spared were welcomed and given comfort, Chuck informed the Admiral that a ship had just entered their area and those who could should see her from the nearest balconies. As many as could filed out and watched as Earth's newest vessel, the BB310 class Dreadnaught appeared above them, too large to dock on a pier, at over 800 metres, she filled them all with awe and hope. Two personnel beamed in and all those who were gathered, were a bit taken aback to see General's O'Neill, Landry, Richard Woolsey and SG1 standing there.****"****Admiral, you have the base!****"****  
So Mac had one final duty to perform, a service for the fallen. He gave instructions to the Fraiser's Padre, USAF Chaplain Emily Dixon, she quietly recited the Ode.****"****They went with songs to the battle, they were young.  
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.  
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,  
They fell with their faces to the foe.  
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:  
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.  
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,  
We will remember them. Lest we forget****."****  
****"****Lest we forget****"**** All responded.**_**Dreadnaught**_**, played the last post. At the end, with one voice all the crew replied.**

The Admiral greeted the seven, who were all carrying wreaths and then O'Neill spoke in a firm voice for all to hear.

A lone bugler from the

"We will remember them."

**Soon after, the mighty ship left again for Earth, taking the Admiral on a quest of the hunt.**

* * *

**Admiral MacGregor was livid as he paced back and forth in the spacious wardroom of the Dreadnaught. Captain Doctor Anne MacGregor tried to calm him as she walked beside him, but to no avail. Jack even gave him a bourbon, straight, which Will downed in one swallow and did not even blink. He turned to Woolsey, sitting next to Hank Landry, and the IOA man, almost shrunk in his chair.**_**"Ptah. I don't need it"**_** Will thought to himself. "Very well, Hank what do you say?"**_**"Twelve days to home, at least we've cut that down."**_** The thought passed vaguely through his mind.**

"Are you telling me, that a little squabble amongst the Stargate partners is more important than finding out who our traitor is?"

Richard couldn't answer, but Cam did. "With all respect sir, we understand how you feel, but if the alliance breaks apart now, all our projects, Atlantis, the lot, could go down the drain as well, our program is far too big now for any one nation to go alone." He took a long swallow of his beer, "But having said that, I think the two Generals and MR. Woolsey here would agree, that SG1 and yourself, could take on this search on our own, using whatever resources we can muster."

"I agree Admiral, we have had a good bit of luck in the past working alone." Daniel added and both Vala and Teal'c gave approving looks.

"Jack, Hank?" Will needed answers.

"Well it's Hank's call, I have no real say in it now, though I agree, what does the IOA think?" Jack gazed hard at the Suit, he still did not trust the man after all this time.

"Yes, in this case, I advise we root this traitor or traitors out while we can, the IOA will go into damage control and that will keep them busy for a while...you have my blessing Admiral."

Landry looked up and wiped his mouth and placed the chicken wing on his plate. "If SG1 are willing Mac, I'll give you every help I can."

"Good it's settled then, as soon as we get back, the hunt is on." Will said with a satisfied grin.

"Only after we check all of your injuries at the SGC first, and you get some rest William MacGregor." Anne said sternly.

"Yes ma'am." He replied cheekily and saluted his wife.


	4. Chapter 4

As everyone started returning inside from the balcony, Macara and the other British officers stood watching the mighty _Dreadnaught_ leave the atmosphere.  
"Could have used that a day ago," Stewart spat as well as his broken ribs would allow.  
"Amen." Fisher replied. He was still reeling form the chastisement he had been given by McGregor.  
"So, the Aussies get their 401's and their 340's as soon as they join the program. We have to send hundreds of ours to their deaths fighting the Ori, spending billions in support of the SG programme before they even allow us to independently use the gate!" Williams snarled. The lieutenants and captains there, men like the young Hardy, nodded agreement  
"They would barely allow us to have a 304-size ship," Stewart reflected. "The fact we had two did not go down well in the Whitehouse, yet here the US and Australians have jointly developed that monster," the naval-captain waved his hand in the general direction that Dreadnaught had taken.  
"Enough," Macara said quietly, but in a voice full of steel. His superiors and juniors alike turned to look at him.  
"Sirs, we cannot allow our personal feelings to affect the Alliance right now. We just fought and died together to defeat the Wraith,"  
"And who did most of the dying," Fisher muttered.  
"Nate, since when were you on their side?" Stewart asked. "You were always against losing autonomy,"  
Macara sighed. "I still am. But this isn't the time for in fighting. We have a traitor to find, not try to fight amongst ourselves."  
Stewart nodded slightly. "I suppose your right, major. It's just the treatment the UKGTF has received from the US that rankles." The older man said.  
Macara let out a sharp burst of laughter. "I've experienced a lot of it so far, sir. You're preaching to the choir. But there is nothing we can do about the US and their Aussie mates right now. You need to follow orders and keep things working out here."  
The officers didn't look convinced, but Stewart nodded once again. "Okay, Nate, you make a good point. But what do you mean, 'you need to keep order'?"  
"I'm going back to Earth," Macara stated bluntly.  
"What?  
"I'm going back. UKGTF have Okayed it. General Melchett wants me there, and major General Salmon wants a debrief."  
"Has McGregor?" Stewart asked, grinning.  
"No. Not a clue. Then again, he can't control British movement through the gate, so I don't really care!" Macara said happily.  
Stewart leaned against the railing, resting his ribs slightly. "Well, I have nothing to do here," he gestured at his ship, sitting on pier 3 being repaired form the major engine damage. "I'll take operational command here, if that's okay with you, Nathan?"  
"Of course sir. HQ said as much. Commander Fisher, you have to think about heading back soon. You weren't meant to be fighting when you get here."  
The Irishman smiled wanly. "Can't help it. Need a good brawl once in a while."  
The officers chuckled together, when a small figure came over timidly.  
"Major, you're wanted in the infirmary." Lorrelle said.  
"Not seen you for a while, Lorrelle, how are you fitting in?"  
The small woman looked up shyly. "Quite well, thank you. But doctor Keller said you should come as soon as you were able."  
Macara sighed and walked off. The other officers talked on.  
"Okay, gentlemen. Williams, prepare your troops for the return journey to Midway and then home.  
"Sir," Williams saluted and hurried off. "Commander, prepare your ship to leave within the day, please. The rest of you, take some down time. Lieutenant Hardy, you will take the major's section through the gate today,"  
The lieutenant looked delighted, and dashed off to assemble the men.  
Stewart smiled and turned to look at his damaged ship

"I'm…alright…Nate. " Trang wheezed. "I don't need to go."  
Macara shook his head. "They can get you full attention back home. Here, you're not going to get back to operational fitness."  
He tried not to look at the terrible burns that should through his friends bandages.  
"But Nate, I'll…."  
"Look, Vic, Lorrelle has done a great job, with what she has. But we have tech back home that can help. Besides, I'm going too, so you won't be on your own."  
On a nearby bed, Hailey looked over. "What do you mean, your going to Earth? If your going after the insider, I want in!"  
"You can be quiet and rest. You'll be out of here by tomorrow, no like the rest of your crew, so enjoy the rest." Keller reprimanded.  
"Yes, ma'am." Hailey muttered.  
"Jen, enjoy the down time." Macara coughed politely. "Vic, don't fret. You'll be up and about in no time."Macara said again to his friend.  
"Okay, Nate, as long as your heading out as well. I just don't want anyone to know I was this easily talked into going home," Vic said, his eyes going to the other patients in the ward. He was slowly losing focus, drifting into a drug-induced sleep "It's shameful, losing my ship and then having them bring my friend in to tell me I'm being sent home. I feel like it's my fault." Gently taking the un-bandaged hand in a clasp, Macara waited with Trang until the Spec Ops major was out cold.  
"Thank you, major." Keller said. "I couldn't convince him to…"  
"Save it. I know how he feels. All I can say is thank you, to you and Lorrelle for stabilising him so well, but don't use a dirty trick like dragging me down here and then putting me on the spot again. If I had known why you wanted me here, I would have come when there was no one else around to embarrass the man like that." Macara said sternly. Keller just looked shocked.  
The major walked from the infirmary to get ready.

Only two hours later, Macara stood ready to leave. He had his number two khaki suit, and his kit-bag. A team of RM's, all too injured for active duty, were waiting to go through, too. Trang was in a wheelchair, asleep, beside him.  
"Are you sure you want to go?" Sam asked. Macara just looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "You're causing me a whole lot of grief and trouble," she said.  
"Why would that be?"  
"I've had to restrain Ronon from going, and Colonel Sheppard is currently off world, because he would be trying o go too if he knew."  
Macara smiled as the gate came alive.  
"Good hunting, Major" Carter said finally.  
The Scottish major turned and gave her a sharp, formal salute, palm out.  
Sam returned it, equally formally, and Macara went through to Midway.  
He had a traitor to find.

* * *

**Only and hour and a half into the journey and the huge ship came to an almost dead stop. The tannoy burst into life. "Hands to stations, all pilots report to the ready room, command staff to the bridge please."**

"What the…." Jack looked across the table, but was out of his chair before he finished his sentence.  
"I guess that includes us?" Cam said blithely  
"It does!" The Admiral answered and followed Jack out of the wardroom, Hank close behind with SG1 on his six.  
"What about me?" Woolsey inquired  
Cam turns around abruptly. "Just stay here and do….whatever it is you do."

**

* * *

**

**Although the bridge on the 301's were large compared to the 304's, it was getting crowded as three staff officers, SG1 and the Dreadnaught's command crew were all in place. Colonel Ellis, was talking rapidly with his comms officer, Lt. Allana Sutton and the moment he saw the others arrive he turned to them.**

**"Ah, sirs, good timing, we intercepted a bit of subspace chatter and stopped to investigate, perhaps it was fortunate we did."**

**"What do we have Abe?" Hank asked.**  
**"The _Britannia_ and Iwo Jima are engaged with a fleet of Lucien Alliance ships. The two cruisers were sent to investigate activities on PFQ 659, when they seemed to have come under attention from the Alliance forward fleet. I just received a request for aid from Colonel Davis and Commander Ivanovov."**

**"How far out are we Colonel?" MacGregor asked.**  
**"Twenty minutes sir." Sutton replied for her commander.**  
**"Fighter status Abe?" Jack looks toward the vastness of the star filled void before them.**  
**"Half compliment of 302's, five 401's and three 307 trials birds general."**

**Will MacGregor turned away from the status screen. "Three? Are they operational Colonel?"**

**"They are sir, no missiles fitted but we can take care of that, but they're ready to go. But we have only one qualified pilot, we were supposed to be testing them in Pegasus, that was our mission sir, when the Generals came aboard sir."**

**"Good, we'll carry out live tests, Cam you and Teal'c get down to the 307 pilot, and get him to have you qualified in ten minutes!"**

**"Ah, sir, I don't know…"**  
**Will just narrowed his eyebrows at the Colonel.**  
**"Yes sir, we'll be there"**  
**"Indeed" Teal'c answered in his usual demeanor.**

**"Anything else Colonel?"**  
**"Ah, yes sir, we have some empty 302 seats if you have any spare pilots with you sir, and one of our 401's is in need of a pilot and gunner." Ellis looked at the three older men as if they had the required crews in their pockets.**

**Will did not hesitate for a second. "Right you have them. Jack and I will suit up, as will you Colonel, Hank will take your command for the time being. Vala, Jackson, feel like getting your feet wet?"**

**Vala and Daniel who up until this had been feeling quite useless, looked in surprise, as usual Vala missed the subtleties of English.**  
**"We're going swimming Admiral?"**  
**Daniel just thumped her in the ribs.**  
**"Ah, well yes, I can pilot the 401, I have fifteen hours in my log, and I'm sure my Daniel can handle a big gun!" She answered with her typical innuendo.**

**

* * *

**

**"Sir we have about thirty percent of shields left, Iwo Jima reports about the same, we still have hyper-drive but the Jima's lost hers, do you think we should just get her crew over here and jump away." A frantic XO said to Colonel Paul Davis in between explosions. **

"**No we'll hold, we have to, keep sending the transmission Carl, the Dread knows where we are, she shouldn't be more than minutes away, in the meantime get the Jima to maneuver below us, we'll give her some protection and we can combine our fire on those last three Ha'taks, let the Dread take care of the Mothership"**

**"Sir, shields twenty percent."**

**"They don't want to destroy us, they want to board us, Major Fitzgibbon, ready to repel boarders!" Paul bellowed to his combat team CO."**

**"Aye sir." The burly Canadian replied. "Sweep teams by two, cover the hangars, they'll be on us as soon as the shields are down, relay order to Captain Li on the Jima. Sergeant Moore, get your fire teams to cover all the ring platforms, we don't want any surprises even if they are locked out."**

**"Sir"**

**

* * *

**

The action on board the Dread was moving at an increased pace, pilots sat in their fighters and 401's ready to launch the moment the order was given. Anne MacGregor stood on the ladder next to her husband's fighter.

"Why are you doing this Will?" She said with a degree of panic in her voice.  
"Have to Anne, we're short of 302 jocks and my number came up." He lied poorly.  
"You volunteered yourself, have you thought about your precious fleet, and your family if anything happens to you?"  
"Honey, I'll be as safe as you will be here, and if it's any consolation, Jack's got my back and the rest of the squadrons as well, I'll just try and co-ordinate and hang back as much as I can.:  
"Yeah, right. Well if you must, take care and remember to come back in one piece." She leaned over and kissed him, then stepped down from the ladder. As she moved away, Will smiled at her, and pulled his helmet on and gave her a cheerful wave. The cockpit canopy came down and a hiss was heard as it sealed.

* * *

**"Shields are down sir, Jima reports borders sir."**  
**"Standby, Fitzgibbon, Jima has boarders, do you copy over."**  
**"Sir, we've just had a transport land here sir, starboard hangar,...one in port as well sir."**  
**"Damn, where are my fighters, they should have stopped them." Davis blurted to anyone listening.**  
**"Ah Colonel sir, our fighters and 401's are still engaging there's and the Mothership sir, so we've only lost two and one returned damaged 302's, and on 401 returned damaged sir, but they dare not disengage sir."**  
**"Very well then, Major, have them re-group, the moment the Dread arrives. Anyone here not needed now, either grab a weapon and assist the combat teams, or go to damage control..." Another explosion was felt aft, and Britannia was almost dead in space.**

**John Fitzgibbon wasn't having an easy time of it as well. His fire teams on both sides had been pushed back to the storage bays, luckily they managed to keep the Alliance intruders from getting to the upper levels, but if something didn't happen soon, they would lose it. He himself had gone down three times, only to come back at his opponents with more ferocity.**

**Automatic weapons and staff blasts, took their toll on both sides, the Iwo Jima suffering no less. Only the assistance of aircrews managed to hold the tide, but it was a bloody affair. On the Britt, they had fallen back yet again to the service bay, but still on five deck. He elevators now being locked out, it was now or never for both ships.**

* * *

Macara strode through the halls of SGC level 15. The area had been a storage level until 2005, when the UK forces were drafted in to fight the Ori. It then became the Barrack and Armoury location for UKGTF troops.  
Currently it housed fifty seven soldiers and officers from the Grenadier Guards, nine injured Marines, fourteen SRR and SBS operators, ten Staff officers and the Brigadier himself, general Melchett.  
Rounding the corner, Macara almost walked into a Grenadier captain.  
"Watch it," the officer said sharply. Macara cocked an eyebrow and looked the man up and down.  
"Your eyes working, captain?"  
"What are you talking about?" the other man sighed, titling his head. Macara pointed at his officer-tab on the front of his C95 shirt. " I believe 'Watch it, sir' would be more appropriate."  
"Why...yes, of course." the captain replied timidly. "Sorry, sir." and quickly walked away. Macara grimaced. "Bloody Guardsmen. Never liked them. Too cocky," he said to himself. It didn't help that Melchett was a Guardsman. The brigadier had the eternal Aura of being superior in every possible way.  
Macara had had to report to him after arriving, and Melchett had asked him how he managed to let twenty-seven marines die. He then told the major he had done okay, and briefed Macara on the situation. Throughout the whole conversation, Macara could tell that Melchett was more than a little annoyed that Landry had left Reynolds in command of the SGC, especially when he was senior to Reynolds. He was left to stomp around his officer making soldier feel bad.  
Of the known team members to have been captured and freed from the Wraith, two were in Atlantis where they would have had no opportunity to find out what vehicles were being sent from Earth, although they would have had the ability to contact the Wraith.  
Four were on base, and restricted to quarters, the others were as yet unaccounted for. Macara had asked permission to begin the hunt, but was told in no gentle terms that he was not allowed to exercise any authority off base without Landry or O'neill's permission.  
So the Major was stuck in the SGC until such times as the Dreadnaught arrived. And that was still ten days away.  
Macara walked up to Melchett's door and knocked.  
"Come," the voice snapped. Macara sighed and walked in.  
"Yes, major?"  
"I was wondering sir, if I could led a GTF team off world today. I need to get out of this base, and would gladly lend some experience to the Guardsmen."  
Melchett looked at Macara. "You have only been back for a day and a half, major, have a break!"  
Macara shook his head. "With respect, sir, I'm half a klick under ground. I wouldn't mind seeing some sky again, even if it is purple and gaseous and completely alien." Macara tried again.  
Melchett looked like he didn't care either way.  
"If you really want to, major. Team 3 is gearing up to go. Only one fire team is heading out, as this world, Pk5-104 is supposedly peaceful. Trained with the Arctic warfare cadre, didn't you? Well, this place is covered in arid grassland and some desert, so it will be nice and warm, at least. Feel free to tag along."  
Macara saluted smartly, grinning. "Thank you, sir!"

* * *

Macara emerged from the armoury, heading to the lift in his No. 5 dress and his Green beret. He had forgone his Osprey armour, as he didn't want to frighten the locals, although the armoured vest was attached to his pack just in case. He had his L85A5, the GTF version of the standard issue rifle, and his side arm. He still hadn't replaced his dagger, as Hailey had so far refused to give it up.  
As he reached the Gate room, the four Guardsmen waiting for the gate to open looked round in horror. Being led by a Marine officer? That was a fate worse than death to these tough soldiers.  
The officer in charge was the young captain.  
"Can we help you, sir?" he asked snidely.  
"I'm going along, Captain, to lend you gentlemen my wonderful experience. I won't take over unless you do something stupid." Macara winked. "What's your name, captain?"  
"Captain Jessop, sir. Sir, I have ordered my men to wear DPM bush-hats," the younger man said pointedly.  
"And?" Macara said, hamming it up, knowing what the captain was referring to.  
"Your...erm...never mind, sir." The captain abandoned his efforts.  
Behind them, the gate kawooshed.  
"Right, gentlemen, head out!" Macara said, chuckling away.

* * *

Macara strode through the gate with his rifle at a jaunty angle. the Guardsmen dashed through one by one, flustered and with half full magazines.  
"_What happened, major?" _Reynolds voice came over the tannoy.  
"The people were perfectly friendly, sir. The Lucien alliance, who have an underground ship bunker, weren't." Macara smiled.  
"_Damn." _Reynolds sighed. "_They're like rats, they get everywhere_."  
"No exactly like rats sir. At least the rodents are good eating," Macara joked.  
"_Come up to the briefing room, major, and your team," _Reynolds finished speaking.  
Macara nodded, and gestured to his team.  
"So, captain, what was your first trip like?" Macara asked. He had found out after they went through that Jessop was the only member of the detachment at SGC to have never stepped through a gate. He had been off world on the _Lorcan_ once, but had never gone through a gate.  
"Well, I had hoped there would be less running and shooting and more exploring."  
Macara just laughed, and went up the stairs.  
"Here, and here, sir." Nathan pointed to the UAV map. "Nothing much we can do, sir, on foot, unless the idea of another ground assault is pleasing to the IOA?" Macara muttered.  
"No, I'll see if the _Apollo_ can sweep by on their next run and give them a head ache. Good work major, captain. You are dismissed, except you, Major. I have some intel you may wish to be appraised of."  
The guardsmen got up, came to attention and left.  
Reynolds waited until the last man had left before starting.  
"The _Dreadnaught_ has gone to engage Lucien forces who attacked the _Iwo Jima_ and _Britannia_. There have been casualties, but with the _Dreadnaught_, it is expected that the Alliance ships will be easily handled. However, the Dreadnaught will remain with the ships, and it may be an extra twenty four hours before they return. Just thought you may wish to know. Also, we received this for you, from General Salmon." Reynolds handed over a data slate

Macara nodded, came to attention and left.

After dumping his gear, Nathan went to his quarters to check what the message was.

Major General Salmon, CO of the Royal Marines, was simply writing to give his commendations for the action. Salmon also gave permission for Macara to return to Earth to join in the investigation.

There was, however, a coded post script that required a password only a commando officer, trained at Lympstone, would know. The message read; "Major, we have noticed some problems with the Gate Alliance that are proving troublesome. The Australians and Americans are firmly united in their actions, the Russians and Chinese are in talks to start their own programme again, the Europeans are moaning and we are being sidelined as the political lines are drawn. As a company level officer, I would like you to keep your ears to the ground and see what's going on in the SGC. I would ask Melchett, but I have no faith in his ability to be subtle, the man doesn't realise the 21st Century. Also, you are family (ed note, as in unit, not related) so I can trust you. Andy Salmon"

Macara, in surprise, re-read the message before deleting the contents.

So, the politicking back home had begun again. Damn


	5. Chapter 5

**"Three minutes!" Came through the comm sets of all pilots and crews, engines were ready, though one of the 302's died soon after starting, techs were over it like a wet shirt, and soon had it running again. Colonel Julie Mathison the Dreadnaught's Fighter Commander gave the order.  
"I want three echelons to form up on our staff officers, Falcon's you have General O'Neill. Osprey's you have the Admiral, and the Vultures, we'll be on the Captain. Vala, you have the lead for the 401's, just watch our backs and take targets of opportunity. Major Cutler, will take top cover in the 307's. Fast burn Ladies and Gentlemen, good hunting."**

A mass of "Roger, wilco's and affirmatives." Returned through Julie's headset. The Dread, burst out of hyper space to find a nightmare of destruction.

Hank Landry could not believe his eyes as he surveyed the carnage directly below the big ships view. There were quite obviously once in the vicinity of eight Ha'taks, and two mother ships, now surrounding the little earth ships, were one Mothership and three and a bit Ha'taks. Fighters still danced the dance, but the constant fire from the Iwo and Britt, were harassing them and the enemy ships. The most obvious thing though, was the two CG's were not maneuvering, a bad sign, and the instant the Dread was in theatre, a message was received both ships were being boarded.

Authorising the use of deadly force, the Dread wiped the two Ha'taks from existence, and at the same moment her fighters launched.

The Dreadnaughts fighter's and 401's swarmed from her two landing bays like hornets in a frenzy. The very moment they had the enemy craft in range, the Britannia and Iwo Jima's fighters broke off and began returning to the larger earth ship on a command from Davis. Hank Landry began beaming down ground forces to the two ships, and the hostilities there were quelled soon enough, though of both CG's marines and SF's, less than half were still alive. Fitzgibbon, Xiang Le, and Commander Ivanovov, being amongst the KIA's.

But the fighters were having more of a fight on their hands. Though the CG's 302's and 401's had taken a toll, those left of the Alliance Gliders and Al'kesh, were more experienced, held back by the remaining Mothership, until the last. And the biggest shock was, that this remaining ship, was all too much like the one Anubis had built.

Jack and Will led their groups into the melee, Abe took point and his wing picked off any that tried to make a run at the CG's or the Dread. Eddy Cutler, Cam and Teal'c weren't being left either, as those three made it a point to tackle the Al'kesh. Though bulky, the goa'uld craft were very agile, but Cam seemed to be enjoying it immensely as he hailed his friend.

"Having a good time T?"  
"Indeed Colonel Mitchell, indeed!" The grin behind Teal'c's mask was wider than a mile, as the three new craft quickly accounted for five of the Alliance bombers.

"What say we get close and personal with that Mothership Eddy?" Cam asked the Marine Major.  
"With you sir."

It may have been folly, or just sheer bravado, or damn good luck. The 307's swooped down from above the Alliance ship, some defensive fire was directed towards them, but the superior shields of the new fighters held, as a unit they let a barrage of missiles go, aimed directly for the mother ships main weapons platform. If the ship had its shields up, it did not seem to matter, eruptions followed soon after and the great vessel was stricken, floundering and powerless.

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about my friends!" Cam yelled as the three fighters did an inverted roll over the wallowing ship.

The squadrons from the Dread had now broken into individual fights, with wingmen protecting their leaders and many times, the order of battle changing. Twice Jack had Vala on his wing, taking out two gliders that had a fix on him. Now it was his turn, as he found himself on the tail of his friend the Admiral.

"Will you got four bogies on your arse, they must be able to see your gold brother!"  
"Of course they can Jack, going up!"  
"Holy..." Jack did not finish, as Will pulled his 302 completely vertical, initiated a stalled twist, and came down beside Jack's 302, inside his mask, the General's mouth was still agape. Then Ellis joined them on Will's port side.

"What say we finish this gentlemen!"  
"After you Abe!" Will replied. And they formed up in a small three ship vee formation, Ellis bagging the first, nearest enemy, Will grabbing another trying to vector away. Jack had the most fun though, his canon burst completely shearing off the wing of his nearest opponent, then that craft, spiraling away to take out his brother.

"Right boys and girls, show's over, Julie, recall them all now, and Hank, if you're listening, I want that beast boarded, and some live talking prisoners, ok!"

"Yes sir!" The flight commander replied.

"Already in hand Will." Hank answered.

* * *

**"How many?" Will asked his security chief, Lt. Rafael Vazquez.**

"Two hundred and twenty five sir, we cleared every level, every chamber, and anything hiding sir, will be very much dead sir, we vented the ship as the last of us left sir."

"Who has put their hand up as the leader Lieutenant? Or let me guess, no one is claiming that right!"

"If I had a guess sir, I'd say that one." Cam said as he pointed to a familiar evil looking type he knows he had seen before in his encounters with the Alliance.

"Good he'll do, bring him here."

Three Marines escorted the prisoner to stand before the Admiral. Will so close to the unshaven man, the other fellow visibly flinched, like all bullies, they were in fact cowards.

Jack walked over to stand by his friend, he knew how this was going to go down.

But to probably everyone's surprise, Will did not do what he would normally have done, knocked the creep senseless. _"Maybe he's getting old like me"_ Jack thought.

"Do you know how many young men and women are lying out there in my hangar?" Will said very calmly to the Lucian man.

Seeing for the moment his life was not in danger, Peth Jingin, drew from a small well of courage. "No, and why should it be of interest to me, you Tauri come here infringing on our territory, we are only protecting ourselves."

That was enough for Will, he knew now who was in charge, Jingin all but admitted it. The Admiral grabbed him by the collar, and turned to Vazquez.  
"Lieutenant, bring about fifty of those filth along, if you would please."

They now stood in the Dreadnaught's vast starboard hangar, F307's and AC401's were pushed to the sides to make room for the lost souls of the fleet. Between the two cruisers, they lost 189 men and women, the Dreadnaught herself, lost two pilots, and seventeen of the sweep team that boarded the Mothership.

Covered in shrouds, in three rows in the centre of the great hall, they lay. The Admiral beckoned his wife over and bid her to get the medics and other personnel to reveal the faces of all those in their final sleep. Anne did so and Will shoved the Captain as he knew now, of the Mothership forward, and the fifty Vazquez picked out, were of reasonable rank as well.

"Look at them." Will shouted to them. "Burn their faces in your mind, some these are barely adults, and you led them to slaughter, you ambushed our ships that were merely here to quell a disturbance, and you attacked them with a quarter of your force...two small ships."

The Alliance crew, were forced by Marines and SF's to walk the lines and look at the faces of everyone of the Tauri crew. Even Jingin, was visibly shaken.

Hank walked over to the Admiral and whispered quietly to him. "Will I understand how you feel, but where are you going with this?"

MacGregor looked at the General and lightly shook his head. "I wanted these to see what they had done, before I vent them into space Hank."

Jack and Anne had heard this, indeed so did the Lucian, a look of utter horror on their faces. Anne reached her husband first. "Will, you cannot do this, it will make you no better than they."

"The Captain's right Will, even I would have second thoughts about that." Jack added.

"Oh Christ, then what do we do with two hundred plus criminals?"

Jack walked closer to Will so the Alliance would not hear.

* * *

**Abe Ellis, SG1 and the command staff of the Admiral, along with Jack, Hank and Dr MacGregor stood before the Dreadnaught's star map. Jack outlined his plan to Ellis, who knew this sector better than anyone, and pointed out to a barely hospitable planet, that had donated it's gate to the Midway station.**

"There is some game, and a little livestock there, water, and a the remains of a civilization Her-ur took exception to. There are no humans left, but there is shelter. A perfect prison really." The commander said.

Right then, as soon as the Britt and Iwo are able to use their hyperdrives, we're leaving this slime behind, any objections?"

"Some of these people have families Admiral, a lot of the Alliance are conscripts." Vala said.  
"Yes I have to agree Admiral, Vala is right." Daniel added and Vala shot him a beaming smile.

"Oh Jesus Christ, well they could have served a little less enthusiastically then."

"I have a suggestion if I may Admiral." Teal'c spoke for the first time in a while.

"Yes Teal'c?"

"You can advise these ones here, that in say five years time, you will send a message to the Lucian high command, notifying them of where their comrades are. Only the fittest will survive there Admiral, and punishment will have been served."

Jack looked at Teal'c, it was possibly the longest speech he had ever heard his friend say.

Will looked around and all except Paul Davis seemed to agree, the Colonel sat uneasily with his leg in a cast, the Britannia had suffered the most.  
"With one condition, if any if these are caught in the future, they will be tried as war criminals."

"Agreed." The Admiral conceded.

At the last back in the wardroom, the senior staff found Richard Woolsey quite nervously reading a message on a console.

"Mr. Woolsey, a problem?" Hank enquired

"Ah, um yes there is Admiral, Generals. This was sent via a encoded subspace transmission. The Russians and Chinese are actively pursuing their own program. The Europeans are threatening to remove support for us, the British is totally split, and only a few nations a still firm behind us. We have spread ourselves to thin gentlemen, if the Earth collaboration now, everything will disappear in a very short time. Plus we have a serious enemy undercover operation working against us on Earth."

"We know Richard. But what Earth does not know is this." Will said to him, as he showed the IOA man the Wraith communicator found on the Mothership, and the photo's of the four dead Wraith, taken by Vazquez's security team, after they neutralised the threat. And also an encrypted tablet that had the contact details of five operatives on Earth.

"Oh my god." Was all Woolsey could say.

The Finale

"Get a coded message to Major Macara, he should be at the SGC by now. I will recite the message in Gaelic."

_"Nate, we have some leads, I trust you son. Here are the details of five. One in Japan, two in the US, one, our most severe one, in Australia and the last in Britain. I want you to meet with my daughter Catherine, she is an ASIS operator based in Hong Kong, she has SGC clearance and is twice as smart as you and I together. She will be your guide as she can come and go almost anywhere, with seven languages under her belt. Good luck. Oh and don't do anything silly, she will break your neck without thinking"_

Admiral MacGregor

* * *

Macara strode through the gate, the Grenadier Guardsmen following behind. A few bullets pattered through into the gate room, none doing any damage.  
"Close the Iris, Walter," Macara muttered as he walked down the ramp.  
"What happened?" Reynolds voice came across the tannoy.  
"Alliance again, sir. Third time this week. Only this time, it was an ambush. I'm glad I took two fire teams with me."  
"Come up for a debriefing, major. Just you. Your men can head to their quarters now."

Macara made his way to Landry's office, where colonel Reynolds was sitting against the desk. For the last two weeks, he had gone nowhere near the seat.  
"Yes, colonel?" Macara asked.  
"Here," he handed another data slate.  
Macara brought the message up. It was from Admiral McGregor, and it was in Gaelic.  
"What? I can't read Gaelic." Macara muttered.  
"What?" Reynolds snorted. "McGregor can speak your language, and you can't?"  
Macara gave Reynolds a look that shut the colonel up. "I'm from the central belt – nowhere near Gaelic country. It was a nice touch though." Nathan sighed. He scrolled through the pages of the slate, before finding the right tool.  
"Aha." He muttered as he pressed it.  
The message then changed to English, one sentence at a time.

_"Nate, we have some leads, I trust you son. Here are the details of five. One in Japan, two in the US, one, our most severe one, in Australia and the last in Britain. I want you to meet with my daughter Catherine, she is an ASIS operator based in Hong Kong, she has SGC clearance and is twice as smart as you and I together. She will be your guide as she can come and go almost anywhere, with seven languages under her belt. Good luck. Oh and don't do anything silly, she will break your neck without thinking"_

"I assume I am to go and meet this ASIS spook and bring her into the fold?"  
"Yes, major. Hopefully before the Dreadnaught gets back, so we can get to work finding these traitors,"  
"Yes, sir."  
"A few things, Nathan. Only take a small sidearm, if possible. A British soldier, undercover, in Hong Kong? You don't want the Chinese getting in a funk."  
"But they're part of the Gate Alliance, why wouldn't they….ah. They don't know that the US has a spook in Hong Kong. And she's running silent, that's why you haven't just told her to drag her arse out of the city."  
Reynolds looked uncomfortable. "You read the message, she's ASIS, not CIA…"  
"Not much difference at the moment, with you and the Aussies so cosy in bed together. Have you got a picture?"  
Reynolds handed it over. It was of an attractive woman, maybe 5'9", dark haired (which meant nothing in her line of work). There was another close up of her.  
"Right. When do I leave, sir?"  
"Get some civvies, get a weapon and then you leave. The Apollo will beam you out from Peterson in an hour."  
Macara came stiffly to attention, and left the room.  
"God damned limeys," Reynolds muttered, going back to work.

Macara got in the staff car waiting outside the North portal. He was in a pair of faded denims, trainers and a simple white, long sleeved t-shirt and light jacket over the top, concealing his side-arm, an updated Browning HP with two spare clips.  
As they travelled, he read the mission orders from McGregor, that had been attached to the message.

"1) Find Catherine McGregor.  
2) Ensure her safe extraction from area.  
3) Attach transmitter or be within proximity for Beam out.  
4) Don't even look at her funny."

Macara chuckled at that bit. He checked his mobile and found he had a few missed calls from his family, and a couple from a certain lady. That made him grin, too.  
He settled back for the short drive to Peterson. 


	6. Chapter 6

In the empty, abandoned warehouse, there was a humming sound, the smell of ozone, and then Macara appeared. He checked the area for signs of activity, then ran off into the city.

Macara had been to Hong Kong before, under an Anglo-Chinese good will event five years after the return of Hong Kong to Chinese control. He had been a young second lieutenant then. However, he still new this part of the city fairly well, as he had also returned here twice as a tourist, and once as part of the UKGTF mission to China. They hadn't been allowed any further onto Chinese soil than that.  
He followed the details he had been given, looking out for any foreigners. It wasn't as easy as he had expected.  
Hong Kong was full of tourists, businessmen and ex-pats. There were rich people, poor people. But it wasn't like the outskirts of the city, where the government put the poorest. They tried to keep this part of the city as tidy and modern as possible.  
But he still wasn't in the very heart of the city, either. There were tall building, even some skyscrapers, but there were many old buildings as well, and several abandoned warehouses nearby, in the old industrial sector.  
Macara headed down one of the long, straight streets to the area he had been told Cate was watching. No one had divulged o him what she was spying on, but as he drew nearer and nearer, he had a good idea.  
As he walked, there were steadily more and more people as he drew closer to the main CBD. The building grew taller, and more modern. The building he suspected he would find Cate nearby was the same one he had been as part of the UKGTF envoy. It was part of the Chinese Secret Service's efforts to reintegrate Hong Kong as much as possible, and the building had been put up almost as soon as the Black Watch had handed over control. No doubt, the ASIS and CIA were scoping out what the Chinese and Russians were up to.  
Macara stood and looked around. There was a café across the street. Everyone was Chinese, except two white businessmen, and a blonde white woman. She seemed to have an inordinate interest in the building, and was typing into a laptop complete with webcam as she watched.  
Coming out of the building were two Russian army and two Chinese military, with a few more men in black suits. They were walking towards black cars. The blonde moved the camera slightly, presumably to take in the whole scene.  
Macara started across the street, pushing through the crowds, heading to the Café.  
The women seemed to notice him coming. She folded her laptop, took a memory stick out and then stood and headed along the street at a quick pace. Macara sped up to follow. He also noticed four darkly dressed figures who had been watching both the Russians AND the white women, were now coming after him.  
Macara followed on quickly as the women headed back out towards the older part of the city. The men behind followed quickly too, but made no attempt to intercept him.  
The women sped up, and dashed round a corner to the right. Macara picked up his own pace, not worried about stealth, only catching up. They were nearing the warehouse area again. Macara made a fleeting check on his timepiece, noticing only forty minutes had elapsed.  
As he rounded the corner, Macara noticed this street was eerily quiet, and led to a couple of warehouses, complete with fences round them. He could just see the woman run into the nearest.  
The major followed, drawing his pistol. He barred the door with an old metal bar and ran over to a pile of boxes.  
An arm shot out and cracked him on the side of the head. A last minute instinct told him to move, and the blow glanced off.  
A quick kick took his right leg out, and he fell to one knee.  
Another kick came sweeping round for his head. Macara grabbed it this time, and thumped the blonde woman forcibly to the ground, with an audible slam.  
"Catherine? Stop it, already. Royal Marine! Royal Marine!" he shouted before she could attempt any spook nonsense and kick his arse.  
The figure went still then sat up. It was definitely her.  
"Who sent you?"  
"Admiral William 'your father' McGregor. And ouch." Macara said, rubbing his leg.  
They both stood up, pistols brandished. The door was being hit furiously.  
"How did you find me? I'm ASIS."  
"I'm good." Macara allowed a small moment of ego. "Did you know these Chinese spooks were after you?"  
"They're not from the government, these idiots are from the Trust. I've been monitoring the Chinese Secret Service because we believe Goa'uld working with the Lucien Alliance have been manipulating the trust to get delicate info out of the country. To who, we don't know."  
"I think I do," Macara muttered.  
The door crashed and the four men, apparently with back up, stormed in.  
Macara brought his pistol up in a heartbeat, dropping two. Catherine fired too, wounding another. She was a bloody good shot under pressure, and highly trained, but unlike Macara she hadn't spent the last three years in one firefight or another and his shots were having more effect.  
"Come here!" he shouted.  
"What?"  
"Get over here!" he called as the Trust operatives drew nearer, their own weapons firing a veritable hail of lead.  
As Cate drew near, Macara hit his transmitter button, activating it. He grabbed Cate, much to her protest. An instant later, they were beamed out.

Macara landed on his back with a thump. Colonel Johnstone of the Apollo tried not to laugh.  
"Don't do that again." Cate snarled. Macara chuckled.  
"Nice to meet you, too."

* * *

Within twenty minutes, Macara had briefed Cate McGregor on what was happening, and why he had been sent to get her. He had started politely, offering his hand. "Nathan Macara." Which received just an icy glare.  
"So, you think that the Wraith Worshippers are manipulating the Trust, who in turn are contacting the Lucien Alliance, to get messages to the Wraith through several of our own who have been turned?" Cate said with disbelief. Macara nodded.  
"I know it sounds convoluted, but the Lucien Alliance can't tackle Earth now, not with all our ships and allies. But, when they were contacted by some, if not all of these people," Macara pointed to the pictures of the five suspects. "Then they must not realise what the Trust ahs them doing. We believe the trust has arranged some sort of alliance with the Lucians once the martial control of Earth has been over thrown. What neither side realise is they are both being used by the traitors here on Earth to bring the Wraith down on us."  
Cate paused for a minute.  
"What do we do?"  
"We wait for your dad to arrive."  
The briefing room comm went off. It was colonel Johnstone.  
"The _Dreadnaught_ has arrived. You may want to come to the bridge,"  
Macara grinned again. "Now that is timing."

* * *

**Nathan and Cate went to the bridge quickly, well Macara followed the gruff young woman, who appeared to have a chip on her shoulder as big as Colorado Mountain. Nate had been briefed on her, he knew she was not long a widow after losing her husband of only a year in Afghanistan, he got that, but there was a deeper aggression to her, almost instinctive….he chuckled to himself, "Much the same as me."**_**Dreadnaught**_** and her two escorts, **_**Britannia**_** and **_**Iwo**__**Jima**_**. Even from 5,000 meters the damage could clearly be seen.  
Nate could only whistle through his teeth, he could not comprehend what those on board had been through.**

**Tom Johnstone stood with his arms folded, his executive officer Lt. Commander Susan Pavlov next to him, his deep Texas drawl giving away his origins. "**

**"You two had better change, there is kit provided for you, the Admiral and General's O'Neill and Landry are on their way."**

**"Sir, we don't have a lot of time, and this mission is undercover, couldn't we….."**

**"No!" He interrupted Cate. "This is my ship Cate, and I'll not have staff officer's meeting you dressed in civvies, now go…you might be ASIS girl, but you're still an Air Force officer, ten minutes…Pavlov, show them to the officers mess please."**

**"Sir." The exec, saluted smartly and ushered Kate and Nathan to the nearest elevator.**

**The elevator glided down two levels smoothly, on exiting Macara sided with Cate, as they followed the small Russian navy officer along the passageway. "You know him?" He asked.**

**"Yes, he and dad worked together a number of times on the Red Flag exercises, our families became close when dad was posted on exchange to Edwards Air Force base as a tactical air warfare instructor, Tom was dad's number two."**

**"Ah that makes sense, I was wondering how your dad knew so many USAF personnel. He knew O'Neill in much the same way didn't he?"**

**"Yes, but that goes way back,**

**"Yeah I got that, and I know also you are somehow related to Colonel Carter…."**

**Pavlov stopped at the door of the officer's mess and turned to the other two. "You'll find your things in here, report to ze bridge az soon az you are finished." With that she turned smartly and headed back.**

**Nate mumbled something about "Russian starch." In a rather derogatory manner.**

**Cate found a bag with the standard SGC black jumpsuit, as did Macara, their rank insignia on shoulder patches affixed, a Major crown for Nathan and two blue Flight Lieutenant bars for Cate, her pilots wings on the chest, and a Royal Marines patch on Macara's.**

**They changed quickly, and Nate tried his best to show some courtesy by not turning around. But as a typical male his curiosity got the better of him and he stole a glance as his new companion was slipping into her new attire. Gone was the blonde woman he first encountered, her natural dark auburn hair hanging just past her shoulders, the wig being discarded on the deck. She was strong and athletic, built like a swimmer, broad shouldered for a woman, with arms a lot of young men would like to achieve, now he knew why his jaw hurt so much. But just before she was totally covered, he saw the reddened scars that criss-crossed her back, as though she had been whipped, and only recently to, if he was any judge. He pulled on his boots, tied them and stood. "You ready?" He asked politely?**

**Entering the bridge Tom waved them over, both saluted him, Nathan's being almost just a hand wave "Sir!" They stood near to the vast window giving them a unique view of this part of the Solar System, Earth just out of sight below, the Moon in their immediate front, and in the distance, the visages of some of the other planets could be seen, larger than what would normally be witnessed.**

**"Any moment now." Tom spoke almost reverently.**

**A hyper window opened just beyond the Apollo's starboard beam. Three ships emerged, the _Dreadnaught_ and her two escorts, _Britannia_ and _Iwo_ _Jima_. Even from 5,000 meters the damage could clearly be seen.  
Nate could only whistle through his teeth, he could not comprehend what those on board had been through.**

**The tannoy sounded loud in Cate's ears "Attention on deck, Flag officer on board." She was nervous and Nathan sensed it, all of a sudden he felt protective of her, not in the way of a lover, more like an older brother.**

There was a story in the scars she carried as well, he made a mental note to find out what it was, without pushing it of course, he could after all be the master of subtly sometimes. An elevator immediately to the port side of the bridge chimed prior to exiting its occupants. Firstly Will Macara, came out, followed by General's Landry and O'Neill, closely heeled by Richard Woolsey and lastly Dr. Anne MacGregor and SG1 came out in a group. The entire bridge snapped to attention and saluted as the Admiral entered their domain.

"At ease everyone." He calmly ordered them, then turned around to Hank Landry.

"We don't have a lot of time Colonel so we shall be brief. Mr. Woolsey and I are to return to the SGC immediately. I have to organise a mortuary party to board _Dreadnaught_, and between General O'Neill and myself we have a lot of letter writing and explaining to do. As does Mr. Woolsey here.

Jack stepped forward. "Tom, I want you to be available in orbit for at least the next week, any other orders prior to this is rescinded. You will be our taxi service for that time, understood?"

To Colonel Johnstone this was akin to babysitting, and the crew morale was low already, having been held back from the Atlantis trip in favour of Daedalus, but he knew what was at stake, he had been briefed by Reynolds before _Dreadnaught_'s arrival. "Yes I understand sir, and I take it my young guests here..." He indicated Cate and Nathan. "Are the passengers along with SG1?"

"Yes they will be Colonel, and myself from time to time as well." MacGregor answered before Jack could reply.

"Right then, prepare to beam us back to the SGC, Colonel." Landry said quickly, as if he needed to be there in all haste. Though not more than half an hour ago, Cate had been transported in the same way, it was altogether different to see people coalesce before your eyes, "Uncle" Jack gave her a cheery wave as his image disappeared as well.

"Very well then Tom, will you show us to your most secure quarters?" Will asked.

"Of course Admiral, if you all follow me. Lt. Commander Pavlov, you have the ship."

"Aye sir." And she simply carried on with her work, without hardly a glance at her commander. 

* * *

**Within the confines of the Captain's cabin, the MacGregor's had a brief re-union, and Will introduced his daughter to SG1. Without saying it, Vala's face showed a little dismay that the Admiral and Doctor could allow their child to walk into the face of danger, but she checked herself, she had her own background, and well she knew Sam's history with her father.**

**"Now Major on our return journey here, we were able to gather more Intel for you." Will began, then nodded to his wife Anne. She was carrying a map tube and rolled it out onto Tom's large oaken table.**

**"This also was retrieved from the Alliance ship, crude, but damaging in the wrong hands. A golden find in ours. The map indicates the positions of each of the five worshippers. Their last known assignments and addresses."**

**Cam then took over. "The first and next most lethal is Mitsu Tanaka, previously a SF with Atlantis, who had been "rescued" over a year ago from a hive raid Major Lorne and two other teams carried out. This guy is less likely to be after information, and more likely to resort to sabotage. He was an electronic explosives expert."**

**"May I ask why he is the first, most important Colonel?" Cate asked as she shot her parents a quick glance as well. Her mother managed a quick smile, but her father simply answered for Mitchell.**

**"Because he, like the others, somehow managed to gain employment with either a sub contractor or ship builder on the 340 or 310 project. Tanaka got into Nippon Heavy Industries in Nagoya, within five days they are launching the Victory, Dread's sister ship. We believe that will be his target."**

**Cam carried on the discourse. "He has also managed to secure aid of the Yakuza, and as such has resided himself in Nagoya's red-light district. This will be our only joint mission, after this we'll split into teams and cover the remaining four."**

**Teal'c who had been totally silent until now, studied the map, and extolled his knowledge of the Yakuza.**  
**"Wherever he lies hidden, he has heavily armed supporters..." He looked around the table, not doubting himself or SG1, but he did not know the capabilities of Macara and Cate MacGregor. "...will only six of us be sufficient?"**

**"That is all we have my friend." The Admiral looked directly at Teal'c then his daughter. Nathan saw there was genuine concern in his eyes. "The IOA are being held to ransom by our so-called allies, so this is a private SGC mission, you have been asked Major, because you know the Wraith thinking and how their followers might behave. We could not draw any of Atlantis's teams out."**

**"Sir where are the other targets likely to be?" Cate asked her father, but it was Anne who answered.**  
**"The two American agents, we believe are at Boeing in Seattle, one of our lead 340 plants. The Australian we know must be at ADI in Adelaide, where the Fraiser was launched. The fifth and final has been a little elusive, she was with BAE in Manchester, then she turned up in Clyde, where they are assembling 310 components before shipment to EADS, in Toulouse."**

**"Any questions?" The Admiral asked.**

**"When do we leave sir?" Nathan leaned across the table and met MacGregor's eye.**

**"In ten minutes after you are all geared up and changed into civvies."**

**"Yes sir!" They all said in unison eager to be on their way.**

**As they were leaving the Admiral took hold of both his daughter and Daniel Jackson's arms. "I'll be relying on you two, to make sure there are not many body bags left behind alright, we need answer's and cadaver's don't give them up easily ok?" He hugged his child warmly, and Daniel thought at first she resisted, but after a moment Cate relaxed and held her father tightly. "We won't let you down dad."**

**They left and followed the others out, Cate stopping for just a minute to hug her mother, then as she walked toward the officers mess, she began reciting Haiku's.**

* * *

The group beamed into the Japanese Security Force safe house in Nagoya. Two operatives awaited their arrival; fully briefed as to what the team was doing here.

Mitchell looked uncomfortable in his civilian attire – the man lived for the Air force. Beside him, Macara had the same attire he had worn in Hong Kong. Vala was wearing something probably a little too inappropriate for the mission, but there was nothing anyone could say to her to get her to change. Daniel wore his usual non-descript gear, and Teal'c had a beanie on his head once again. Cate looked just as non-descript as the rest.

"Welcome to Nagoya. I am Kirimoto, this is Muto," The taller of the two operatives said politely.

The room had been set up for a long stay. A couple of crate with various food lay around, radio and observational equipment were stacked on a table in the corner, and two beds had been set up. A couple of small flasks of Sake sat with the foodstuffs.

"We understand you wish to place someone under surveillance?" Kirimoto held up a picture of the target.

"That's right. Big ol' gad guy looking to let space vampires blow up the world, didn't think we could let him get away with that," Mitchell said laconically, drawing sighs and eye rolls from SG1.

"We have this position set up to watch the building across the street. There is much Yakuza activity there. This man, Tanaka, has been in frequently to visit them. He always brings a laptop or sealed security cases," Muto said.

"When was the last activity?" Teal'c asked.

"Forty eight hours ago. We have been watching the whole time, but he hasn't been seen, either going in or out. The Yakuza go in and out, but he hasn't appeared again."

"Ooo, a stakeout! Just like on TV!" Vala chirped up. Daniel promptly elbowed her in the ribs.

"I wish Sam was here," Mitchell groaned. "Okay, do you guys have any other positions we can watch from, or any other routes into the building?"

Kirimoto led them to a table with a schematic of all the buildings in the block.

"We are here," he pointed to the building they were currently in. "Directly across from the main entrance. There is another side entrance here, beside this brothel, and a fire escape here, facing these shops. Also, there are two other building we could observe and move in from. This shop, top floor, and the brothel itself. We have already arranged for one room to be left empty for this use. A little blackmail goes a long way." Kirimoto smiled.

"Okay, break into teams. Cate, Daniel, take the shop OP. I will stay here with Kirimoto. Teal'c, Vala, go to the brothel." Mitchell rapped out the orders. Vala chuckled and nudged Teal'c, who looked fearfully at Mitchell.

Macara cocked his head and made a coughing sound. "And I am to…?"

"Don't worry, major, I have a plan for you, too. You'll stay here just now however."

Macara just nodded, and went to fix himself a corner of the room to get some sleep in.

The teams prepared their weapons - all Zats – and moved out carefully.

Mitchell set up an H&K PSG1 and sat aiming across the street, panning left and right slowly.

The two Japanese agents sat down to play cards whilst Mitchell took the watch, and Macara slumped off to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Several hours later

"But Muscles, I'm booored!" Vala implored Teal'c, who just watched stoically through the window.

"This is nothing like the TV! Nothing's happening. Please? Go on, just for ten minutes? You won't miss anything, and It'll stop me com-plain-ing!" she pleaded. One of Teal'c's eyebrows gently rose.

"Vala Mal Doran, if I do, will you stop this incessant wailing?" he asked.

"Yup!" Vala grinned.

"Here, you may have the Nintendo DS back. But play it on silent" Teal'c threw the small console at her. Vala squeaked with delight and returned to playing the game, tongue out in concentration. The stoic Jaffa simply shook his head and continued to watch.

* * *

"But, you see this dialect of the Japanese language could very easily have been influenced by the Ancients who dwelled here before they Ascend…"

"Daniel, I do not care," Cate cut him off. "And if you keep talking, I will Zat you." She said, putting the earphones of her ipod back in and watching through her binoculars.

"Fine. Be like that," Daniel said sullenly.

* * *

Several More hours later.

Vala slept, Daniel read some history whilst their respective team mates watched those access points.

In the main safe house, Macara snapped awake. The two agents were catching some Z's, and Mitchell sat at the rifle. Well, slumped over the rifle, with a small thread of drool on his lip.

Getting slowly to his feet, Macara walked to the window, keeping in the shadows. A black 4x4 had pulled up, and several figures were getting out. Macara flicked Mitchell's ear twice before the colonel slapped the side of his own head, then sat bolt upright.

"Wha…what happened. Am I late for school…." He stuttered, then remembered where he was. Following Macara's gaze, he saw Tanaka leave the 4x4 and walk into the building.

"Okay people, this is it, he's just gone in carrying a laptop, and his buddies have some heavy metal security cases. Prepare for entry through the side routes," Mitchell said.

Macara bristled. "And what am I to do?" Macara asked. Mitchell quickly picked up some sake and splashed it over Macara's clothes.

"What the fu…."

"Don't worry, it's a good plan," Mitchell smiled.

* * *

The man staggered up to the door of the building. The two armed men just inside to alert as he forced his way in. he was white, and that alone was reason for suspicion in this part of the city.

They walked over and grabbed him.

"Hey, guys, how ya doing…." The man slurred. He stank of drink.

"Idiot's pissed," one guard said in Japanese. "He stinks"

"Can…can you guys take me to the girls?" the white man asked, stumbling forward and up a short flight of stairs. His action took the guards by surprise, and they hurried after him, slamming him against the wall.

"What's going on…I…I just some fun…" the man Brandished a wad of local notes. The two guards looked at each other and chuckled.

One of the doors was open on this floor, and a voice called out.

"Get rid of him. Take him in the back and see who he is, then throw him out!"

The guards dragged the drunkard into one of the back rooms, well clear of the up-stairs room, and looked for a wallet. Inside, there was just money and a driver's license. As they padded him down, they found a strange device in a holster on his leg. Both men looked up sharply from their search.

"Guys, never trust a drunk Scotsman!" Macara laughed and decked the first one with a punch to the jaw. The man writhed on the ground as his comrade swung a massive punch that would demolished Macara.

If it connected. Macara ducked and shot the man with his Zat. Standing upright, his shot the man with the broken jaw, too.

"I'm in. Second floor, first room. Stand by to breach."

* * *

Tanaka sat in his room with plans to the _Victory_ and several cases of C4. He was sorting through items with several of his newly found Yakuza friends. The guards hadn't come back yet.

"Go and find out what they learned from that guy," he snarled.

One of the gangsters headed to the door of the room. He dropped a moment later, Zat fire bringing him down.

The men in the room all came to their feet, but before any could get their weapons, a massive figure entered and began firing his Zat. He was followed by two smaller men and two women, who all carried the same weapons.

The fight was over in a heartbeat, without one round being fired back at them. Teal'c smiled walked over to Tanaka, stunning him and grabbing his collar.

Mitchell clipped his mic, and then Teal'c disappeared with the target in the haze of an Asgard beam.

Macara and Daniel policed the papers and reports on Victory, whilst Vala scouted for anything of value.

Cate checked all the guards were out cold, before beckoning the Japanese spooks.

Mitchell spoke quickly to Kirimoto, who informed him back up was on the way.

"These guys are all yours, we don't need them. You can tell your superiors you rounded them up." He grinned.

"Did you get everything you needed to?" Kirimoto asked in reply.

"Everything we needed from Tanaka. There are still some things that need sorted, however."

Cate suddenly growled for silence. There were booted feet running up the stairs, lots of them.

"Yours?" Mitchell asked.

Kirimoto shook his head and brandished his pistol.

Something rolled into the room.

"Hit the deck! Close your eyes, open your mouths!" Macara bellowed.

His warning came quickly, but not quickly enough.

Macara threw himself over Daniel, holding his own ears tight. The flashbang went off, Mitchell, Kirimoto, Muto and Vala dropping like stones.

Three men appeared in the door, all with some form of submachine gun.

Macara looked up and raised his zat, but before he could fire, someone else's opened up.

"Cate!" Macara called out, firing his own weapon. Two men dropped, but three more waited in the corridor. 9mm started to tear the room to pieces.

Muto stood uncertainly, head reeling. He was mown down without mercy.

Mitchell dragged himself behind cover, and Kirimoto fired his handgun blindly.

Cate took a ricochet across her right bicep and instinctively her arm curled, dropping the zat. She reached with her left, but the moment's pause had allowed one of the gangers in the room and he fired at the hand reaching for the alien weapon.

Macara fired again, but 9mm fire kept him pinned down.

Another sudden burst of fire sounded, different to the others. A couple of thumps sounded.

"That was a P90!" Macara said for some reason, not knowing himself why he had stated out loud what they could all hear.

The Yakuza turned on this unseen aggressor, and Macara quickly shot two more, Cate the third, her Zat in her left hand.

The remaining yakuza pulled another grenade out, a frag, and went to pull the pin when the P90 sounded again, dropping the last man.

Striding through the door over the dead and unconscious gangers, Admiral McGregor smiled fondly.

"Well, that's put me in a good mood!"

* * *

"You shouldn't have gone down, dad!" Cate protested even as the medic bandaged her arm.  
"Oh shut up. I'm an admiral. I can do what I want." McGregor said, almost petulantly. That drew a smile from Mitchell and Teal'c. "And you guys were taking forever."  
They stood in the ready room of the Dreadnaught.  
"Okay, we have Tanaka. Now we can concentrate on the others. As I said, we will split into groups and take the other four. Mitchell, Jackson, you will be going after the worshippers in Seattle. Vala, you will go with Cate to Adelaide. No Cate, don't look at me like that. You may not know it too well, or want to, but you still know Adelaide better than SG-1 do."  
"Yes, dad." Cate made the ascent sound as sarcastic as possible.  
"Sam, you and Teal'c will go to Clydeside and…."  
"Not a fucking chance, mate." Macara muttered.  
"Major, you have a problem?" McGregor growled.  
"Well, you might want to think about asking permission before sending operatives onto British soil." Macara said.  
"You think in face of Wraith worshippers running about the shipyards we should ask permission?" Mitchell was shocked.  
"Yes, I bloody well do. You asked the Japanese, you have no doubt informed the Australian government, so why do you assume you just hop down to Glasgow without so much as a by your leave? I know what was going on in China. I know that no doubt the US and probably their antipodeans will have agent sin other Gate Alliance countries, spying on them. I wonder how my government would like that notion?"  
McGregor glared at Macara, but accented. "He's right. Inform the Prime Minister."  
"Oh, and I'm going." Macara said.  
More sighs and eye rolls followed.  
"Major, you are a front line soldier, you're not up to black ops of this type," Mitchell said. Macara sneered at him in return. "Ask Cate who got the jump on her in Hong Kong, or who had to go in and play bait in Nagoya? And that is my country your invading. Tell me, Colonel Carter, do you your way around Glasgow? D o you know what the safer areas are, or the best way not to get noticed zat-ing people?"  
"I'll have Teal'c" Sam started.  
"Yes, how very inconspicuous, an American and a Jaffa turning up asking questions in Govan. I at least know the area, and there is a RMR barracks there. Surely my presence could not hinder this op?"  
Again, McGregor relented. "Fine. Major, head to Glasgow with Teal'c. Sam, you go with Mitchell."  
The group nodded and stood to go to a beaming point. McGregor glared at Macara again. He didn't shout, or reprimand the major for his obvious insolence, but the look told Macara that a friendship had pretty much ended today.  
But the mood the major was in, he couldn't care less right then.

* * *

Macara and Teal'c appeared in RMR Glasgow. It was night time in Glasgow, dark outside, and most of the base lights were off too. The building was pretty empty that night – the Reservists were either down in Lympstone completing their commando course, and the fully-fledged commandos were out on operation.  
Macara led Teal'c through the building, through the Spean Bridge bar (for Rankers and Officers alike) to the Lieutenant-Commanders room. The officer wasn't in, neither were the drill corporals.  
Macara walked back through the gatehouse, and bumped into Captain Kinninmonth of the Edinburgh detachment.  
"Evening sir!" the captain said. He often came through from Edinburgh unit to help out.  
"Evening. How are you, captain. It's been a while."  
"I'm good, sir, you? What can I do to help you?"  
Macara looked at Teal'c, then handed over his orders. Teal'c stiffened as such secret information was passed around, but Macara gestured to Kinninmonth. "He was briefed into the UKGTF a while ago, but preferred to stay with 45 Commando in Afghanistan instead."  
Teal'c inclined his head to the captain, giving a small bow.  
"Well, our bunks are all free for the moment right now, if you want to put down here, sir?"  
"No thanks, I'm going to head home tonight, but we will be in and out a lot. Have you got a spare set of keys?" the major replied.  
The captain opened one of the locked compartments in the gatehouse (which in fact was just a reception room with the security button to open the gate leading into the site).  
"Here," the captain threw a set over.  
"Cheers. Right, we'll be off. Have a good evening." Macara smiled.  
"You too," Kinninmonth said.

* * *

Macara and Teal'c tabbed quickly to the subway and got the train to the city centre.  
"Where are we going, major Macara?" Teal'c asked, making sure his beanie was on right.  
"To my flat. And to grab a pint."  
Teal'c raised an eyebrow.  
"We need to track this Wraith worshipper, major Macara."  
"Teal'c, it's half past ten, it's a Friday night so the parties will all be out, and captain Kinninmonth is currently tracking down records of all those BAE employees who came up from Manchester to help with the 310's. Also, we can't get into Clydeside docks at the moment. We will have to wait until tomorrow. Okay?"  
Teal'c bowed slightly, realising that Macara was right.  
Macara sat back and took in atmosphere of the semi-crowded subway train.

The two men left the pub, Dows, Teal'c more than happy with his first Guinness. Teal'c and Macara had spoken of many aspects of military life, and spoke, in hushed tones, of their first meeting again with some chuckles on Macara's part, and even a brief grin from Teal'c.

As they left, Macara said they should catch the last east bound train to a place called Dennistoun. It took no more than five minutes to reach it (in fact, Macara admitted it was a mere fifteen minute walk if he could have been bothered)  
Macara led Teal'c to a bottom floor tenement flat on Whitehill drive, and let him in.  
"Sofa's all yours, mate," the major said, throwing some covers into the living room. Teal'c looked at the sofa, glanced at his own size, then the sofa again. Macara just chuckled.  
"See you tomorrow, 0700. We'll head to the ship yards then."  
"Good night, Major Macara."

The Major walked into his room for the first time in several months. Everything was as he left it - shirts on the back of a seat, the TV remote on his bed. The Claymore on his wall was dusty, so he gave it a wipe with a cleaning cloth, before yawning deeply and getting ready for bed.  
That had been a couple of strange days. The morning before, in China, the afternoon through to today in Japan and now home, in Glasgow.  
Home.


	8. Chapter 8: Entirely by PJOz

**Vala and Cate stood in front of the Admiral; Vala at least seemed oblivious to MacGregor's mood.  
"Kid, what has gotten into Macara, I know that I've only known him a short while, but usually I'm good at reading people, his attitude nearly had me vent him out the hangar bay!"**_**Apollo**_** might be.**** neighbour****, and she was not too nice to me and my brother, well she had her reasons I suspect."**

"Stuffed if I know dad, I've known him even less time than you have, but he seemed ok when I first met him. This appeared to be a complete turn around even from that brief encounter."

"Alright then Cate, you and Vala carry on, here is my contact in Port Adelaide, she's ex –Navy and a good cop, see her first and she'll get you local clearance. Oh and Vala?"

"Sir?"

Will held out his hand."Gum"

Vala reluctantly spat out the wad she was chewing and handed it to the Admiral, then joined Cate and the two of them left his room and headed for the bridge. Immediately they entered Tom Johnstone asked them. "Where to ladies?"

"Adelaide sir, somewhere near the Local Area Command Police HQ, but not where we're likely to scare the crap out of anyone thanks." Cate replied.

"Ah I know just the place." Tom answered and the familiar beam out occurred.

* * *

"Phew what's that stink?" Vala asked as she got her footing in the darkness.

Cate got out her small pocket torch and scanned the immediate area. "Oh great, yeah thanks Tom, real nice that was!" She said as she looked up toward the black sky, some place the

"What, we're are we Cate?"

"Back alley, behind the Police station, in between the garbage skips of the forensic section. I owe that insufferable man. C'mon Vala, we have to find this…" She unfolded the paper her father gave her and shone the torch on it. "Detective Inspector Vivian Dixon….oh this just gets better and better."

"Now what?" Vala asks.

"When I was a kid, my folks lived on base for a while in Victoria, this Dixon was a

"And that would be…?"

"We um, ah, well we used to play a lot of pranks my brother and I, I guess she was on the receiving end a fair bit. Let's go, should be all water under the bridge now I suppose."

Vala takes note of another Earth quotation.

They round the corner in the late evening street lighting, the front entrance of the Port Adelaide Area Command loomed before them, two patrols vans pull into the curb and the young constables disembark and proceed to unload their night cargo, the usual assortment of Saturday night drunks and louts. Cate held Vala up until the entourage is inside the building.

"The old bag will be in her office, I can show my ID, but I have no desire to, cops are a suspicious lot, and that will just invite a plethora of questions, especially if there are young cops in there. There is a public phone across the street, I think we should get her to come out to us."

"Oh I love this cloak and dagger stuff, I've watched so many of your movies, this is so James Bond like." She smiled, having espoused her knowledge of Earth culture.

"Not really Val, I just don't want to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves at the moment." Cate said bluntly, which left Vala a little disappointed.

Cate and Vala squeezed themselves into the phone box until Cate turned to Vala and said, "What are you doing?"

"Ah well, keeping close, we don't know who could be watching do we Cate?"

The younger MacGregor just bumped Vala out of the box with her backside, just as she started dialing. Vala took it with good grace and took the opportunity to watch the parade of fine young policemen come and go across the road. It wasn't long before the phone answered and Cate was put through to Detective Dixon, she explained the situation and the older woman agreed to meet them at the local Pizza Hut when she came off shift in about an hour. Time to fill, Cate knew where they had to go, so a little research would help to pass the hour.

Heading across the broad road, Catherine led Vala two blocks away, which brought the restaurant into view, just as she suspected, it was a cop meet place, Dixon obviously was not sure of the call and wanted to be certain she'd have backup if needed, "Why for God's sake Cate wondered. Anyway can't be helped now, we need that clearance." She thought to herself.

* * *

The hour past and the two women watched as a unmarked Police car arrived, a heavily set, not over tall woman in her mid fifties got out, she was armed, Cate could see clearly the bulge under the loose jacket. "Time to go Vala, that's her."

They briskly crossed from their location and entered only a bare moment before the heavens opened a downpour, Vala quickly checked back outside to make sure no suspicious characters were following, she indeed had watched too many movies.

Cate saw Mrs. Dixon sitting by a window seat, apparently she had ordered ahead, three medium pizza's sat before her. Vala slid into the soft seat followed by Cate.  
"Do you know why we're here Detective?" She asked the older woman.

"Yes, because I owe your father Cate, but I still haven't forgotten about the glue in my car door lock, or the outdoor garden seat that was neatly sawn through on the legs…"

Cate just looked in horror, and thought, "This is not going to go down well." When much to her surprise Detective Dixon gave her the biggest smile.

Almost laughing Vivien said. "My god Cate, you should see your face, don't worry love, my two girls are ten times worse than you and Ben could ever have been. So, what is so important that your dad wants me to get you local clearance for?"

* * *

Between Cate and Vala, they filled her in. There were looks of wonder, awe and something bordering on hearing an incredible load of bull. But Vivien had spent too many years in both the Navy and Police force to realise that when an ASIS operative comes knocking, you better believe every word they say. At the end she told them both.

"Alright then, I'll arrange a car for you and co-ordinate some local backup, but I'm curious Cate, why not use your own agency?"

"Because Viv, we're overseas operators and we don't get on too well with ASIO, so the local police is our best option in a lot of cases."

"I see. Very well, meet me hear at seven am tomorrow…wait do you have accommodation yet?"

"No, we just arrived tonight, ah unexpectedly." Cate did her best to cover up.

"Oh well then, seeing as how my two chicks have flown the nest, you two won't mind sharing a room them will you?" The look on Dixon's face told the two younger women they would have no contest here, so after consuming the three pizza's and Vala had to ask for more garlic bread. In fifteen minutes they set off and along the way, Cate filled the detective in a little more. Gateways, alien's, space battles, the older woman had thought she had heard it all in her career, and soon realised she might have left the Navy, a bit too soon.

Right on seven, the car arrived at Dixon's house, she had it re-directed through the night. Cate and Vala had shown Vivien the Zat gun, and from that point she was seriously wanting to be involved. But she knew also it would be extremely dangerous, and after not long ago burying her husband, she was loathe to let her daughters be without a single parent. She wished her guests well, and gave them the radio call signs for immediate backup, Viv told them that the local STG unit would have their backs at a moment's notice, which was reassuring.

* * *

At eight am, Cate pulled the police loan car into the Port Adelaide dock facility and went straight to administration, she did not pull any punches this time and flashed her ID, at the same time revealing the 9mm Beretta's the detective had supplied them with.

The clerk pulled the personnel files and in minutes Cate had their target a ex Atlantis SF, French national who had dual passports, was at one time married to an Australian woman, but joined the RAAF after her death in a car accident. He was previously with the French Air force field guards, so he was well trained and deadly. After being repatriated from Atlantis on his supposed rescue, he eventually headed back to Australia and secured a position with ADI at their assembly plant at Edinburgh, just north of the city. They had his last known address, his car plates, everything they needed. Cate thanked the nervous clerk and the two of them set off for his home first. It was not known if he had done a runner, as the clerk told them he bundied on for work as usual yesterday, Friday.

A unit building in a non descript area not far from the Air Base, had about 12 apartments in it. Jean Laverde was in number 10 on the second floor, Cate and Vala came to the door and made sure no other residents were nearby. Cate listened closely at the door and could only hear a television, no telling if the target was inside or not, she looked at Vala for a moment and then…."Ah screw it." She said not too softly and applied foot to door.  
The weak timber gave away, and surely the television and Mr. Laverde were inside. But they had not planned on finding what they did. Jean's body, if indeed it was him, was a dried up corpse, fed on by a Wraith, and not too long ago either.

Vala just looked at the body and said nonchalantly. "Now what?"

"We get my father down here asap."

* * *

**The admiral advised Cate and Vala to get Dixon in, it was after all her turf, but one else from the Police, she had to come alone. In the meantime while they waited for both to arrive, they began their own search of the apartment. Rubber gloves on, they naturally started with the cadaver, went through his pockets, not much there except a paystub from yesterday, and a receipt from Woolworths for groceries. They checked each room methodically, and found not much else, it was quite obvious the wraith had already done so, as their appeared to be letters missing from a folder, the envelopes were torn and postage origins missing, and the contents gone. Cate also managed to hack Jean's computer, which had a very complex password, and whole files were deleted only a few hours ago.**_**Apollo**_**, Detective Dixon almost fainted at the sight that beheld her, the beautiful sphere of Earth some five hundred miles below, she could not believe herself.**

Vala was searching the bedroom one more time and she called out. "Cate, what do you make of this"

Cate found Vala in front of a built in wardrobe, the door slid back and she had found what was obviously a false panel at the back, the two of them looked for a lock or mechanism of some kind, and after ten minutes found a small hole that required some cylindrical device to be inserted. They went back to the body and re-searched it, in his wallet, a very small round fluted key was tucked in between layers of the leather. Going back to the wardrobe, Vala inserted the key and the panel slid back. There were weapons of course, M4's, a couple of P90's, hand guns and even three zats. But the most astounding thing was a Goa'uld long range communication sphere.

Neither of them dared touch it for fear of activating it, but there were more implications for them to consider now. Just then they heard voices in the adjoining room, both of them had their zats in hand, ignoring the police issue 9 mils on their belts. They crept to the door, only to see Cate's father and Detective Dixon in a rather heated debate.

"Viv, we called you in out of courtesy, we could have easily disposed of this without you even knowing, all you would have is a missing persons file. So please be reasonable, you cannot call in your forensics for this."

"Will MacGregor, I have a dead man, who somehow was at work yesterday, and now his corpse looks as if it's been here for ten years and you want me to forget about it…Christ no, this is my jurisdiction and my watch, an investigation by the Police must be paramount"

Cate and Vala came in at that moment. "Ah dad, Viv, there is something you both should see."

The older two turned to the interruption, and stopped their dispute for the time being.

"What is it Cate" Will asked.

"Come and see for yourselves" She said.

Viv was visibly shocked by the armoury, much more than she would have expected a lone operator to have acquired. But the goa'uld device intrigued the Admiral more.

"So our boy here was working for two bosses perhaps. We know the Alliance is involved but to what extent. Or maybe Frenchy here was playing both camps for the greater gain. Viv, can you get a check on this guys financial activities for us?"

"Oh so you want my help now, do you?"

"Yes we do, we can do it ourselves but the fewer who know about this the better. Look I won't muck around with this, as hard to believe as it may be, the whole galaxy is in danger of this getting out of hand. Play ball with me, and I give you something very few people on Earth would ever have the chance of having." Will said with all the sincerity he could muster.

"What could you give me that would make me betray my duty Admiral." The last said a little sarcastically.

Will cocked his eyebrow, he knew he was dealing with a skilled negotiator, he should, he trained the woman. "How about a quick trip to Mars and back?" He grinned fiercely.

Viv dropped her jaw. "You're kidding?" She saw his and the face of the two younger women. "Jesus Christ, you're not….alright you have a deal. But how do we dispose of him." She indicated the next room with her thumb.

"Not a problem." Will attached a transmitter onto Viv's coat, and went and did the same for the corpse. "I love this part, beam us up Scotty!"

* * *

On the bridge of the

"Now Cate, Vala, I want you to contact all of the team members and warn them of our 'alien visitor', do it in person. Tom we can get a locator on each of our people can't we?"

"Yes of course we can Admiral."

"Do it then. Girls, take some heavy armour with you for yourselves and the others, zats may not be enough. Now Tom I'd like to borrow a 302, may I?"

"Of course sir, one of them is yours anyway, a quick trip sir?"

Will looked at his old friend Viv, and nodded. "Yes Tom, a promise I made just a little while ago." He smiled broadly.


	9. Chapter 9

The next day, Teal'c and Macara went out towards the Govan shipyards run by BAE and VT surface solutions. Macara and Teal'c were turned away from the gate at first, even when Macara flashed his MOD 90. Only after several phone calls was he allowed in to speak to the Head of the yard, at one point Andy Salmon even coming to the phone.

The elderly, balding man, called Brian Murphy, led the duo to his office.

"I must say, this is highly irregular. I would have expected the police or the MOD police to handle this matt…."

"Well they're not, and I have authority and clearance here. Just check your files and see if Monica Campbell has clocked in today,"

Rebuffed, Murphy sullenly typed in his computer. "Not here. She turned up a few days ago, but then headed to the Scotstoun yard. She may be there."

"Do you have an address of where she is staying?" Teal'c asked.

"Actually, I do. It's some flats in Cessnock. Here," the small man handed over a waft of papers.

"Tell me, Mr. Murphy, what she was working on whilst she was here?"

Murphy looked around, then looked at the two men. "The, ahh, UKGTF work, major." Murphy looked around, saying no more.

"Shit." Macara growled. "Teal'c let's move. We need to get to Cessnock, now."

The two men fled from the room, a shocked and confused Murphy still sitting at his desk.

* * *

Another quick trip on the subway and they were in the Cessnock area. (Teal'c even remarked how lucky they were the ship yards and Wraith worshipper's lair were all in places where the subway line stopped near…)

Cessnock was run down, full of Tenements were shipyard workers had lived back in the glory days of the ship building industry. Now it had boarded windows, dirty streets and inhabitants that looked like they had survived a holocaust. Yet amongst them, there was hope. Normal people toiled away, and a sense of community existed amongst those who had more than three brain cells.

"I had no idea such poverty existed in the cities of your world, Major Macara." Teal'c said. "I knew of the poorer nations, but not of this here in the hearts of your cities." The Jaffa was obviously taken aback.

"It happens. When the ship yards died, so did most of the industrial area of Glasgow," Macara said sadly.

"Indeed," Teal'c said.

A large group of lads, maybe 17-18 years old, were messing around on the pavement, blocking their route.

"NEDs." Macara muttered.(for everyone not of Scottish existance, it is an accronym for Non-Educated Delinquent. Englaish call them Chavs, most people call them scum)

"What?" Teal'c asked.

"Similar to pond life, only not as useful," Macara replied. Teal'c grinned slightly.

"Indeed?"

The NEDs, however, saw the opportunity for some racist fun.

"Look at the size of that big black fucker" one grunted. They all laughed in the nasal tone of their type.

Macara fumed. "What did you say, you little arsehole?"

The boys all crowded round, their idiocy not cowed by the well built Jaffa.

"Who the fuck do you think yer talking to?" the eldest one said, leaning forward. He was obviously the leader. He was about Macara's height, but not as well built.

"I suggest you all bugger off home before I kick your arses." Macara replied, growing angry.

"Never mind, major Macara," Teal'c said diplomatically. "Let us continue," the Jaffa tried to walk on, hands behind his back in his normal way.

One of the NEDs yanked Teal'c hat off, causing a gasp.

"Whit's up with yer head, weirdo?" one said.

"That's just fucking weird!" another gasped.

"Now you've done it." Macara grinned.

"That is the tattoo of the first-prime of Apophis. It is pure gold, poured onto my forehead at liquid temperature. It was most painful. Unlike anything you would have experianced."

"What the fuck?" one said, drawing a small pocket knife. Teal'c raised an eyebrow and grabbed the boy by the wrist, squeezing till the knife fell from his grasp. The others starting jostling him and the major, swearing and shouting for Teal'c to let go. Macara grabbed one little git by the arm and twisted it round his back. The major then used him like a riot shield against his friends.

Teal'c, still holding the knife-wielder, beckoned the leader over. The boy didn't move at first, but something in Teal'c eyes brought him over. "Whit?" he crowed. The Jaffa leaned forward and whispered something to him.

The lad's eyes went wide, and he turned and ran off, dragging the knife carrier with him. Teal'c stood to his full height, and snatched his hat back, looking intently at them all.

"Boo."

The crowd ran then, terrified. Macara laughed out loud as he let his 'hostage' go too.

"What did you say?" he asked Teal'c as they proceeded on.

"You do not want to know, Major Macara."

The two men proceeded on a few doors, before reaching the flat. Macara pressed the buzzer for the landlord. He made up a story, and the landlord buzzed him in. This area of the city, security wasn't that tight.

They went up to the top floor flat.

"Do you wish me to gain us entry?" Teal'c asked, eying up the door.

"No worries Teal'c, give me two seconds,"

Macara looked at the door, the type of Yale lock, then pulled out a small set of skeleton keys he had picked up at home. He picked one, and they were in. Teal'c raised an eyebrow as he caught Macara's eyes.

"I grew up in the Tenements mate. The Glasgow housing association, the one run by the council, never use any other lock type. I got these ages ago when I still lived with my parents in Dennistoun."

Smiling slightly, Teal'c and Macara drew their zats and entered the flat….

"Whooaah…." Macara breathed involuntarily.

* * *

The inside of the flat was covered in technology; Tauri AND Wraith. Something funny was going on here.

"This is most disturbing," Teal'c muttered as the two men cleared the flat. There was a bedroom, barely used, the living area that was covered in tech, the kitchen again, barely used, and a small bathroom.

"Clear," Macara called.

"It appears she is not here," Teal'c said astutely.

Macara was about to reply when he found the woman's metal storage locker under the bed. It was unlocked, and he opened the lid.

Inside were two P90s, a zat and two Wraith Stunners. Also, there was a small Wraith stun-bomb and several Wraith Grenades. Worst, there was several open packs of C4.

One had a timer.

"Oh, this is not good." Macara said.

Teal'c wandered in. "Major Macara?"

"We've got a C4 charge here, set to go off in eighteen minutes. I'm not touching this thing, the wires are set up in a way I have never seen."

"There is enough here to demolish this dwelling, and the ones around it…." Teal'c said.

Macara looked at the Jaffa. "Shit."

"Indeed, Major Macara."

The two men ran from the flat and headed for the stairs.

"Use your SGC ID. Flash quickly it at the people in their flats, get them outside!" Macara said as he bolted to the first door."

Teal'c nodded, and went to the next door.

They had little time left.

* * *

"Right, people, we need to secure the last two American agents. Daniel and Sam are working on it now, but with a Wraith on the loose and the amount of firepower that Jean had on him, I don't want them trying anything alone. Cate, you will beam down with a case of Zats. I know Teal'c has one, but Macara refused to carry one. Take Vala with you, and remind the Major I don't want any more body bags." MacGregor said to the two woman before him, Cate standing upright and attentive, Vala leaning on the briefing table. Mitchell was also there, having been brought back from his part of the hunt.

"No worries, dad. I'll get it done." Cate said, turning and walking away. Vala lounged on the table, chewing away. MacGregor coughed loudly, and Mitchell rolled his eyes.

"Oh, right. That's me, too…." Vala said, skipping off.

MacGregor waited until she was out of earshot.

"You will go too. Watch Macara, see how he acts. I get the sinking feeling that the Brits are feeling more and more isolated in the Gate Alliance, and now after the revelation that we and the US have been running intelligence ops on our allies, there is every chance the Brits will let the rest of the world know. Try and keep the major sweet. And watch, and listen, to see if he is passing information back to his superiors. It can't be allowed." MacGregor said shaking his head.

"What, you mean like we have been doing?" Mitchell asked. He was also against the shadow play that was going on in the programme now.

"To think, Cameron, I absolutely hate all this back-door politics. I could quite happily live without it, and once this trouble is over, I want to get the Gate Alliance back on track. Especially the Brits."

Mitchell nodded, before coming to attention. MacGregor dismissed him and sat at the table, trying to sort out the myriad problems before him.

* * *

Macara stood before the last resident, a 73 year old who refused to leave without her cat. The major showed her his ID, which she believed, told her of the danger, which she believed, but still refused to move.

"Listen, sonny, this has been my home since I was 16. My children grew up her, my husband died her and I will not leave it. Especially not without my Cat."

Macara sighed, and looked at his watch. He entered the flat past the old lady, and looked around.

The cat was on top of the kitchen cabinet, well out of reach of the woman. Macara stood on a chair and grabbed the animal, which hissed and scratched at the major.

"God damned…..I hate cats," Macara muttered darkly, finally getting a firm grip. holding it at arms length, he walked to the door.

"Now can we go?" he asked as politely as he could.

"I really want to stay here!" She protested. "These things were built strong, it'll last!"

Her moaning was stopped a moment later as Teal'c shot her with a Zat. Macara dropped the cat and grabbed the woman before she fell.

"Teal'c…." he growled.

"I find this to be a most effect method of persuasion." Teal'c smiled his smile.

Macara sighed and carried the old lady outside.

The first police cars and fire engines had arrived, but bomb disposal was nowhere in sight.

Macara laid the woman down as the first Police officer walked over. The woman was in plain clothes.

"Detective Inspector Linwood. Did you call this in?"

"Yes," Macara said simply. "Bomb disposal's on the way, but it's going to go off before that. No fire fighter goes into that building until my teams, in gear, have entered."

The detective bridled. "And you are…?"

"Major Nathan Macara, Royal Marines Commando, working for the Home Office," he displayed his MOD 90 ID. "This is a matter of national security, so I suggest you listen to me."

"I…"

The detective was cut off as the explosion threw everyone to the ground.

The top two floors were devastated, leaving massive damage. People were crying for their homes, and Policemen tried to stop a larger crowd gather.

"_Major_?" Macara's comm. went off.

"Yes?"

"_This is Mitchell. We have beamed down in the Shipyard and discovered that Monica Campbell had set explosives round the area. They have been deactivated, and we've caught sight of her. She's coming in your direction, head her off_!"

"Where is she now?"

"_Moving through Ibrox towards her apartment, then we saw her and gave chase. Paisley road?_" Mitchell said uncertainly.

"On our way," Macara said, grabbing Teal'c and running off.

"Wait!" Linwood called behind them, even as the first GTF bomb disposal team turned up…..

Macara and Teal'c sprinted along Brand Street, heading back by the subway. A thought hit him as they ran.

"Colonel, what do you mean she was walking up Paisley road? Wouldn't she have taken the subway?" he breathed as he ran.

A moment passed, then Mitchell's breathless voice came back. "_We…..we beamed down nearby, and went to the entrance….to see if we could intercept her….we guess….we guess she must have seen us and made off on foot_."

"Where are you?" Macara asked as he and Teal'c turned onto Paisley road West, which met up with Edmiston a few hundred metres up.

"_Same street, but a lot further back. We can see her._"

"Take the next left on…er….Broomloan, I think. The one before the football stadium. Follow it down to Woodville street and then go to the subway stop. Stop her using it once I give chase."

"_I hear you. Cate is following her, herding her your way._" Mitchell said.

"I see her, she's just come on to Paisley Road!" Macara shouted, speeding up.

Even the mighty Teal'c found himself struggling to keep up with the Marine, who had spent many painful hours running full tilt with Bergen on his back.

* * *

Monica Campbell walked along quickly, knowing she had been spotted. She had to get to her flat and stop the timer on her gear now she had been found.

As she walked, she saw a tall plume of dirty smoke over the tops of the tenements.

"Shit" she cursed, knowing that it meant her bomb had gone off.

She looked down and saw tow figures running towards her. One was tall and dark, and carried a zat.

"Teal'c," she breathed, knowing that they were onto her. Monica drew a Sig from under her jacket and turned and ran back to Edmiston drive.

As she passed the dilapidated houses, she saw another figure, a young woman, zat in hand, running her way. In a moments panic, she took a left and followed the Paisley road towards the football ground. If she could make it to Ibrox subway, she could make an escape.

"Suspect in sight, heading back along Paisley road past the climbing centre. Cam, when you get to Copeland road, head along and block her off!" Macara called as he ran on. Cate fell into step beside him, Teal'c catching up best he could.

* * *

The four young men walked along Merrick gardens, joking and laughing, carrying their climbing gear. Stewart Crichton, Eoghainn McLean, Richard Beckett and Chris Dale did not expect the next incident to happen as they turned the corner to the old church, which was now the Glasgow Climbing Centre (est. 1994, plug plug).

They stopped short at the sight of the woman running towards them, being chased by some distant figures.

Stewart and Chris, being the gentlemen they were, tried to ask if she needed help.

"Are you okay, mis….." Stewart started. The next moment, the Sig came out and there was a single report, and the lads jumped out the way. The woman took the street they had just come out and sprinted away down it.

Eoghainn and Richard grabbed Chris, his left thigh bleeding profusely, the bullet having gone through-and-through.

"Bugger this!" Chris snarled through his gritted teeth. "It's going to be another six months before I get to RAF Cranwell!"

The other figures arrived, Macara first, followed by Cate and Teal'c.

"Are you guys okay?" Macara asked, scanning for Monica.

"My mates been shot by some crazy bitch with a Sig!" Stewart growled. They could hear Eoghainn shouting down the phone to the NHS 24 people telling them he didn't need to examine the symptoms, he just needed a bloody ambulance.

"Which way did she head, buddy?" Macara said desperately.

"Down the gardens and she took a left. I'm guessing the station!" Stewart said. Macara waved a vague thanks and dashed off.

Cate grabbed Chris's leg and clamped pressure on it, making him bellow with pain. Richard grabbed a climbing sling from Stewart's bag and handed it to Teal'c, who doubled it over then slung it over Chris's thigh, tying it tight. The flow of blood lessened considerably. Cate nodded to Teal'c and dove off after Macara. Teal'c continued to apply pressure as the four young men looked for something in their gear to bandage the wound. He nodded in satisfaction as a climbing bandana was brought out and tied round, and staff from the climbing centre came out to see what was happening.

The Jaffa stood and headed off after the fleeing soldiers.

Macara followed quickly as he could. He heard some shots up ahead, and a zat, then turned the corner to see Monica heading back along Edmiston again, passing Ibrox stadium, and Mitchell holding his arm.

"What happened?" Macara asked, catching his breath.

"Just a graze. Go, go!" Mitchell said and Macara took off once more.

Cate turned up a moment later and helped Mitchell to his feet. "Come on, Cam, you're tougher than this. Move your arse!"

* * *

Macara followed Monica, gaining on the rapidly tiring Campbell. She took a sharp right, Macara only thirty yards behind her now. She fired a couple of rounds that made him duck, and disappeared down Helen street. Cate and Mitchell caught up, Teal'c not far behind now, as Macara went after Monica alone.

The major fired two rounds into the ground in front of Campbell, who took the next left instead of heading straight down. Macara grinned wolfishly as he slowed up slightly.

"What? Why are you slowing up?" Cate asked.

"It's a dead end. That where RMR Glasgow is" he said,

"Dad said to tell you no more body bags! We need some info!"

"No worries. I wasn't aiming at her." He replied, brandishing his HP and moving slowly round the corner.

The woman was pressing the buzzer desperately on the gate, her weapon hidden. An older man, John Martin, who was in the 'Gatehouse' hit the open button and, with two young trainee Commandos, came to see what the fuss was about. Monica put on her best frightened face, begging the men for help, one of the recruits putting himself between her and Macara.

"No!" Macara yelled. "Don't let her in the gate!" he called dashing over.

But it was too late. Campbell put two rounds into John's chest, and dropped one of the trainee Marines in front of her with a round to the head.

The other recruit made a grab for the weapon, getting a hold of it. Campbell kneed him in the groin and shot him too, before running into the building.

Macara screamed in anger, firing after her. He gave chase, Mitchell going with him. Teal'c checked the men; all three were dead. Cate sighed and followed the pursuit. Teal'c respectfully closed the eyes of the dead men. Marines and Holding Troop crowded round.

Monica ran into the main garage area where the Marine's personal climbing wall and abseiling face was located. The door to the armoury was locked, and the Gym hall was full of trainees. She was trapped.

Macara burst in behind her.

"Surrender, now!" he called.

Campbell looked for a likely escape route and found none.

"Surrender!" Macara called again.

Campbell lifted her pistol, and so did Macara. Just before the major fired, a Zat round took Campbell out.

"No. Body. Bags." Cate repeated, as if to a child.

"We'll see…" Macara snarled.

* * *

Campbell woke in the Spean Bridge bar. She was on one of the lounger seats. Cate stood beside her, Teal'c was outside the door trying to keep the recruits from coming in and ripping her to pieces. Mitchell was waiting for the police outside the building.

"I won't talk…." Monica spat. "You can't make me. I know the rules, you can't touch me. And your pet Jaffa has no tricks up his sleeve."

"You think so?" Cate whispered.

"I was in the program, I know how you goody-goodies operate. I'm fine, because the police will turn up and get me before you can whisk me away."

"Really." Macara snarled, pulling his pistol and firing into her right knee-cap. Monica screamed shrilly and horrible. "Well?" Macara asked.

"Nathan, stop!" Cate shouted.

"He…will…heal me!" she sobbed. "One of our lords is here, and he will save me."

"Okay then," Macara said, putting a round in the seat next to her head.

Monica sobbed again, strangled back a howl, and then glared at him.

"Marcus Eppleheim and Jeff Brody. Those are the other two…."

"Yes, I know this." Macara said, checking to make sure he had a round chambered. "Where?"

Monica spat on the major, and Cate moved between them.

"Tell us, and I swear I will get this moron out of here," Cate said calmingly, not playing 'good cop' but genuinely meaning what she said.

Though tears of pain, Campbell looked up. "30th Avenue South, just off Graham street. In Seattle." She cried now, not with pain, but with shame.

"Happy now?" Cate snarled at the major, who just sneered back.

"No." Macara said simply. "Why did you kill those three men? They had done nothing to you. You shot another lad who just tried to help you. Why? They were no threat?" Macara asked sincerely.

"You are all meat anyway," Campbell mustered some defiance. "I did them a favour." She wept through her pain.

"Come on, Nathan, let's get the recruits out of the way before something happens." Cate said, turning to open the door and let Teal'c back in. She stopped as two loud reports echoed in the bar.

Macara holstered his pistol and walked calmly by.

"Now you don't need to worry about anything happening." He said callously.

"What…why…?"

"We found out what we needed to. Then she was shot trying to grab my gun. End." The major said.

"That's not what happened…." Cate said honestly.

"I don't care. I knew John from when I trained here. She killed him with no remorse, and two young men with him. She worshipped the Wraith, helped cause the deaths of hundreds of service men and women through in Pegasus. She earned it." He shouted back, before walking away from the stunned ASIS operator. Teal'c raised an eyebrow in question, but Macara pushed past him and went to talk to the Marines.

Cate put a tag on the body and radioed in. "We need beamed out, _Apollo_. Teal'c, myself and a third. Leave the colonel and Major here to….tidy things up," she said.

"_Affirmative, ma'am._" The voice replied in her ear.

Cate looked at Macara's back and shook her head sadly as the hum of the beaming tech took over, and a moment later she was on _Apollo_ again. With some explaining to do…..


	10. Chapter 10

30th Avenue was a small place, full of detached suburban houses on one side, a bare grassy area on the other before more houses. Pylons were set parallel to it, with dozens of industrial thickness electrical cables crisscrossing the houses.

The three black 4x4's moved in, one from each end, the other cutting across the grass. Two more stopped at opposite ends of the street, black-clad troops piling out and creating blocking positions. They were SFOD-D, some of the best in the world.

The three vans stopped at 6196, a rather dilapidated house in comparison to the other, with boarded windows and a couple of large shrubs growing outside, slightly out of control.

Six black clad soldiers, faces covered, exited the vehicles and made a perimeter around the front of the house. Two more ran to the door.

Mitchell, Teal'c and Macara followed, each holding one of H&K's new Commando Carbines, designed for the British special forces. The weapons were silenced, scoped versions of H&K's G36c, designed for use by insertion teams.

Vala and Daniel, agent Barret slightly behind them, joined the perimeter team, two of those Delta's then running round the back of the house. Teal'c jogged round with them.

Mitchell stood at the door, the Delta beside him hefted a SPAS-12 shotgun at the hinges. Macara stood ready with a flashbang. Unlike the rest of SG1, the Marine had his face covered like the SFOD-D, so no unnecessary questions were asked about why a British soldier was invading US homes.

"Stand by," Mitchell said, listening through the door. "Stand by…."

"Go!"

The Delta shot the hinges and kicked down the door. He rushed in made space for the other sot follow.

Mitchell dashed in, just as the first Worshipper, Eppleheim, came out the living room, P90 in hand.

"Shit!" Mitchell said, diving to the ground.

Eppleheim tore up the wall with a burst from his weapon, clipping the Delta's arm. The SF reciprocated by firing two blasts into Epplehiem's chest.

"Alive! We need them alive!" Mitchell roared.

More firing was heard at the back of the house, followed by a quick zat burst.

"We have Brody, colonel Mitchell," Teal'c radioed calmly.

Macara, and the Delta next to him, listened through the living room wall,

"Then who the Hell is that…" the Delta breathed.

With a roar, a full blooded Wraith major crashed through the paper thin walls, firing yet another blasted P90.

The Delta beside Macara crumpled to the ground. The Delta with the shotgun brought up his weapon to fire, but the Wraith punched him across the hall. With a crack of ribs, he slumped to the floor.

The Wraith swatted Macara out of the way with the swipe of the P90, the major rolling with the blow, taking most of the force to his SF helmet. The Wraith Major dashed outside, firing the last of his clip, Mitchell firing from the ground.

A moment later, seven automatic weapons opened up for almost three full seconds.

Mitchell dashed out the house, Teal'c behind him. Macara was seeing to the two injured Delta's.

The Wraith lay in the driveway, the perimeter team still with weapons trained. Mitchell walked over and placed two rounds in the things head, just in case.

"Okay, move in and police all the evidence inside!" he barked, and the SFOD-D ran in.

"What's it like in there?" Vala asked.

"You do not want to know, Vala Mal Doran" Teal'c said simply.

* * *

Macara walked through the house with the Deltas. He had to admit their form was brilliant; SFs par excellence. They left nothing unchecked and moved with great professionalism.

Not one had mentioned the strange looking alien technology, not one asked why there were so many weapons, many of them alien, in the house. They collected it all stoically, silently.

Yet none of them had been left unaffected by the scene found in the kitchen. The bodies of six people, including, as far as they could tell, the houses original occupants of who two were children, lay shriveled and drained of life.

"That's not right," one of them had snarled. One went outside to throw up. But not one said anything questioning what had happened. All they knew was they had stopped more really bad things from happening.

"Major, get to the van We're leaving this in the hands of agent Barrett and the SFOD-D. We are driving to a safe beaming site," Mitchell radioed.

"_On my way_," Macara said quietly.

* * *

_Several hours Later_

Teal'c strode from the interview room.

"He has told us everything, and is waiting to make a full video confession,"

"Good," Landry nodded. "And once he has, get him on a plane from Peterson to Area 51. That's his new home. Forever."

"Right, let's hear it then," Macgregor said, ushering SG1 from the hallway to the conference area. "You too, major," he said to Macara, who was once again back in his comfortable DPMs.

"Yes, sir."

* * *

"_After we returned to Atlantis, we knew what we had to do. The Wraith gave us all subspace transmitters, but without any power source. So, we got in contact with the Trust. The Wraith had given us a plan;….." _there was a pause in the video as Brody sniffled. It was a moment before he continued. "_We would offer the Trust a chance to get rid of SGC and take control themselves. They would contact the Alliance and offer them a trade treaty with Earth if the Alliance helped them get rid of the Stargate Programme. But that was just a ploy so we could use their technology. Tanaka and Lavarde became imbedded with the Trust.. They would pass info to the Trust who would then pass it to the Lucian Alliance_."

Macara gritted his teeth, and Mitchell slammed his fist onto the table, giving everyone a start. MacGregor waved him down as the video continued.

"_Eppleheim had reasons to go off world before he went AWOL. On one mission, he killed his team and made contact with the Alliance. Once he had gotten aboard their Ha'taks he then convinced the Alliance to take the transmitters to the edge of the galaxy and send messaged to the Wraith for us. We made out that the Wraith could help the Alliance take over Earth, instead of being in alliance with the Trust. That is how the Wraith found out about the 401's existence, and when they would be arriving. Meanwhile, we were slowly gaining access to important constructions and sabotaging them. All the while, we would transmit to the Lucian Alliance who would relay the messages for us."_

A voice in the video prompted him.

"_Is that why the Alliance began attacking us, then_?"

"_Well, they thought they were playing us, the Trust and the Wraith. They didn't realise that they and the Trust were the ones being played. They attacked the 340's because, after the last battle with the Wraith, a Wraith Dart had hooked on to the Fraiser, near a damaged section, and went undetected. This gave the Wraith ship a chance to detach undetected before reaching Earth. The Alliance had an Al'kesh waiting for the Wraith aboard on the nearest planet, and that's how the Wraith made it to Earth undetected_." Brody spluttered.

"Damn it. They must have been operating this plan for months," Mitchell said. "They have been playing everybody off against each other to get a Wraith to Earth."

"Shh," Macara replied.

"_How did the Wraith get our weapons_?"

"_We gave them the locations of numerous caches that had been left for native populations to defend themselves with_,"

"_Have the Wraith received data as to the location of Earth_?" the voice of the prompter came again.

"_No. We were working on getting the information to the Alliance to transmit, but the Trust were sniffing in too much and we couldn't let them know that we were risking Earth, or they would have turned on us, maybe even gotten you involved_,"

Landry stood and turned off the recording.

"That's it then. We have the situation under control, more or less. It seems there will be many more fights with the Lucian Alliance, and we need to root out the Trust. But we have gotten rid of the traitors."

Macara stood. "With respect, can we be so certain?"

Landry replied calmly. "All other captured personnel have been accounted for, and where not on the Lucian list of contacts. Also, they are still in Pegasus, or dead, major. We will monitor them more closely now, but I think we're out of the woods."

Macara nodded politely. "Permission to return to Atlantis, sir?"

"Granted, thought, I believe MacGregor wanted a word first," the general replied.

"Very good, sir." Macara came to attention, and as neither had their regimental headdress on, left without a salute.

"Okay, SG-1. We have a new mission for you, and you are to take a new temporary member with you. We want some recon done on an Alliance world where they are growing kassa and storing weapons,"

"Who's the new member?" Mitchell asked.

"Her," Landry smiled as Cate entered the room.

"Welcome," Teal'c said, bowing.

"Glad to be here. Who's arse do we kick now?"

* * *

Macara stood in Macgregor's office.

"What's been eating you, son?"

Macara remained stoically silent.

"Come on, Nathan. I thought we were friends. You said you would show me full support."

"I believe I done so, sir. I have fulfilled all orders given me."

"I don't mean simply that. You've grown colder since Hong Kong. What is going wrong?"

Macara looked MacGregor straight in the eyes.

"Nathan, you shot that woman despite orders not to. That's not the Marine I know." Macgregor said sadly.

"Sir, she shot three men dead for no reason, and injured a young civilian. Do you honestly think I was wrong?"

"No, Nathan, I don't. But it was still cold blooded and not what I had come to expect of you. Or any officer. Now please, tell me. What's wrong?"

Macara looked back at the admiral, the older man seeing the melancholy in his eyes. Macara knew he could trust this old sailor, but he didn't want to offend him either.

"Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"Go ahead."

"This politicking is getting to me. We are meant to be upholding an alliance, yet the US and Australia are spying on their allies, sending agents to other countries without permission, misusing the technology gained through the Programme. The IOA does nothing but moan and double guess the decisions made by people who know better. The US, quite frankly, does not trust or value the UK's input, despite the blood shed, the Chinese and Russians are still trying to nick the gate, and the Australians, whom I believed would come in and be the perfect mediators, bringing everyone together, have just fallen in step with the yanks. Let's not even go into hardware," Macara stopped, talking a breath from his rant. MacGregor raised an eyebrow, but nodded gently.

"No, do go into it Major. You sound like you need an outlet,"

Macara sighed, then replied. "Well, the US would barely allow us to have our own 304, and then when we made a ship of our own, they went mad. The AAS was only allowed to be constructed because we were making the prototype for the whole Alliance's use, especially the USMC. But even then, they did everything they could to stop us getting them. Btu when you guys came along with the proposed plans for the 340, they were happy as Larry, granted you permission straight away and even gave you financial and technological assistance. We had to beg, borrow and steal the APBWs we had, but you guys got whatever you wanted. Then you got the 401, and because you gave the designs to the US, once again you could do anything you want. I know it's not you personally sir, and believe it or not I have the utmost respect for you and what you are trying to achieve, but the lack of trust and co-operation in this alliance is starting to sicken me. I'm handing in my resignation at the end of my tour in Atlantis."

MacGregor was silent for a moment. "Those are all very good points, major. I thought your grievances were going to be far more petty, but you have obviously been thinking about the situation deeply. I, you may surprised to find out, agree with you. I am sick of the infighting and the inequality in the Alliance. Whilst the US have ploughed billions into the programme, and stood along for almost five years, they deserve a larger say in the Alliance. Agreed?"

Macara nodded slightly; it was a fair point. "But the Brits have, since their assistance with the Ori invasion, put an out of proportional amount into the SGC, both with finance and troops. They do deserve to be treated better. The US are afraid of their autonomy, that's all. And you should know, from your time here that whilst their government may not appreciate what you and your country have done, everyone in the SGC itself does." MacGregor paused to let it sink in.

"That is true, sir." Macara conceded.

"It is. And due to that, no matter your grievance with the upper echelon, Major, don't allow it to colour your opinions of the people you work alongside. You are a very intelligent young officer, Major General Salmon agrees. Use that intelligence to see the heart of things."

"Yes, sir." Macara said simply, colouring at the cheeks slightly. "Also, You won't need to send the General your next report; through Melchett, I have come to an agreement with General Salmon that I will divulge any information he wants."

That brought a look of surprise to Macara's face; both that MacGregor knew what Salmon had asked, and that Will was willing to help him. On second thought, Macara realised he should have trusted the Admiral sooner.

"Thank you, sir."

Macgregor stood. "Right then, I think I have said enough for the moment. Get your gear and get ready to head back to Pegasus."

The Admiral stood, and said. "I would also like you to rethink your resignation, major."

Macara looked at him without flinching. "Thank you for your honesty and your willingness to help sir, but for every man like you, there are three arsehole bureaucrats. Until such times as Alliance works properly, I have no wish to be in it. I will serve my tour, sir. But I won't change my mind. Thank you for your kind words, however." Macara said, taking the offered hand in a quick shake.

"Think it over, Nathan. We need men like you."

"No, sir, we need men like you." Macara replied. Breaking protocol, he saluted sharply and proudly, before walking off.

Macgregor shook his head, before pressing his desk comm..

"Get me Melchett, please,"

* * *

Macara sat next to Trang in the infirmary. The SF major had slept the whole time, sedated for his pain. His burns were healing well, but he was still left in agony most days. His skin graft at the nearby medical hospital had gone well, too so by his own request Trang had been brought back to Cheyenne mountain.

Macara had sat for an hour, telling Trang everything that had been happening. He stood now.

"Well, Vic, by the time you are up and around, I'll be back in the Sandbox. Good luck mate,"

Macara left a bottle of 25 year old Glenfidditch on the table next to Trang, and picking up his kit bag walked to the gate room.

* * *

"You'll be glad to get back, I bet?" Landry said through the tannoy.

"Yes, sir." Macara replied quietly. The gate burst into life, and with no further comment he marched through, going back to Atlantis.


End file.
